Crystallize One Shots
by IceDragoness1
Summary: One shots that tie in with Crystallize. Reader prompts welcome! Rating may change later.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a series of one shots that ties in with my story Crystallize. Unless you've read Crystallize it won't make a great deal of sense. But still a fun little read.**

* * *

Jared wove his way around the crowd, holding 3 cups of beer in his hands. He shot off an annoyed look to a few of the STRIKE guys crowding around the doorways. The music was thumping loudly, even for the relatively early hour for this keg party. Jared had no idea who's house he was at. All he knew it was a STRIKE keg party and he wasn't going to miss it for the world. Even if he wasn't STRIKE. Something Natasha had been more than smug about to point out several times already this evening.

"Holy fucking shit, just fucking move," Jared swore under his breath as he shoved his way through the crowd. A few of the guys he'd pushed out of the way went to send him a glare, or snappy remark but stopped as soon as they saw who it was.

Jared just smirked and kept on walking. He loved the reputation he had in SHIELD. A cool look that would make Natasha proud was enough to get him through nearly anything. When that didn't work, a charming smile usually did. He finally found his drinking companions in a quiet corner tucked away in what looked to be a living room. It wasn't deserted by any means, but a lot quieter than the rest of the house.

"Beer for the Widow," Jared handed Natasha her cup. "And one for Barton. I'm seriously just going to teleport next time and bring the keg here. Why is it so fucking crowded tonight?"

"New lot of STRIKE boys in, have to break them in," Clint chuckled taking a sip of beer and then pulled a face. "Fucking gross, who was the cheap ass getting the nasty shit?"

Natasha eyed the cup like it was going to bite her. She set it down on the table and reached into her jacket instead. Producing a bottle of vodka she smiled.

"I'm not drinking that shit," Natasha uncapped the bottle and took a swig straight from it. "Isn't your sister meant to be coming tonight?"

"Apparently," Jared shrugged. He pulled his phone from his pockets and checked it again. The last message from Kari had been 2 hours ago when she stopped for fuel. She'd only be another hour away. Or less if she drove like the crazy person Jared knew his twin was. She'd left straight from work to get here by a respectable hour to spend a rare weekend together.

"Why don't you be a good twin and go and get her?" Clint asked snatching the bottle off Natasha. "We've known you 3 years and still haven't met your sister."

Clint took a swig from the vodka bottle and passed it to Jared.

"Because she hates being teleported," Jared pulled a face at the offered bottle, but took a drink anyway. "And besides, why are you so keen to meet her?"

Jared had to strangle back a cough as the harsh liquid hit the back of his throat. It wasn't Natasha's normal stuff which went down like a cold glass of water on a hot day. This one burnt all the way down and instantly made his head spin. He couldn't tell if it was really cheap, or really expensive with how strong it was.

"Curiosity," Natasha snapped her fingers to get the bottle. "She sounds badass. Besides it'd be nice to have another female around. I get sick of you boys all the time."

"She is," Jared chuckled handing the vodka back to Natasha. "If I introduce her, be nice. She's having a hard time at work at the moment. Which is why she's coming up here for a few days, hopefully it'll cheer her up."

"Who's giving her a hard time?" Natasha asked with a small frown. "And why haven't you been a nice brother and dealt with them?"

"Because I don't interfere in her life," Jared explained with a roll of his eyes. "Just like she doesn't know a quarter of the shit we do for a living. I don't remember their names, but 2 new guys at her squadron. They seem to have a bug up their ass about her being there."

"We could dump them in a hole somewhere," Natasha suggested brightly. Her eyes lighting up thinking of a new scheme. "Torture them a little bit. After all they're only pilots, they can't be too tough can they? It'd be fun."

"Take a finger or two off," Clint suggested. "I wouldn't kill them, but enough to make them back off a bit."

"I'd personally take their nuts off," Jared chuckled. "But I don't interfere. If she wants help she'll ask. We could however set her up with someone. That'd cheer her up for sure."

"I like this idea," Natasha grinned as she started to scan the room. "Does she have a type?"

"Muscles usually," Jared grinned back at the red haired assassin. "I honestly don't really know though. She doesn't keep boyfriends and she definitely doesn't bring them home with her."

"Rumlow?" Clint suggested as Brock Rumlow walked past their corner. Natasha pulled a face and gave Clint an incredulous look.

"Why would we do that to her?" Natasha snorted. "Besides he has a girlfriend at the moment. He's banging some chick from accounting."

"I'm not the gossip queen," Clint rolled his eyes holding his hand out for the vodka bottle again. "Besides I doubt him having a girlfriend would stop him."

"That's because you STRIKE boys are big sluts," Jared snorted copying Natasha exact tone. "No we're not setting her up with Rumlow. Come on Nat, you know everyone. There has to be someone better than him."

"I'm not a slut," Clint took a small swig of vodka. He grimaced as he pulled the bottle away and looked at the label. "And besides, you're the biggest slut of all of us."

"Yes I am," Jared said proudly. "So come on Nat, who else?"

"What about Riley?" Natasha asked jerking her head towards a brown haired STRIKE guy standing with a group. "He's nice."

"God no, I wouldn't do that to him," Jared laughed. "Kari would eat him alive. He's way too quiet and shy for her. Just remember this is my twin sister we're talking about. The one who doesn't have a problem walking up to guys at the bar and asking if they want to fuck."

"Fuck me I wondered where she learnt that from," Clint shot Jared an amused look.

"Not me I can assure you that," Jared laughed again. "This is the first time I've seen her in ages. She works with all guys. Where do you think she learnt it from?"

"If you went home for the holidays you might see your family more often," Clint suggested with a smirk. "You know, those people who gave birth to you? They're called parents and I'm sure they'd love their son home for holidays."

"No, no and hell no on so many fucking levels," Jared shook his head rapidly. "I'm being fucking serious when I tell you holidays are insane. You think your house is crazy Barton. It's got nothing on my family. By the way, I'm spending Thanksgiving and Christmas at your place again this year if I'm not at work."

"You always do, what's new," Clint shrugged looking completely unsurprised. "I expect something amazing for a present this year for putting up with your sorry ass."

"I expect amazing presents from both of you," Natasha spoke up. "And Clint you seriously need to make those chocolate rum brownies again."

"We got drunk off those chocolate rum brownies," Jared pointed out, smiling at the memory. "And then had to explain to Laura why Cooper was in bed by 6pm. And why he threw up half the night."

"Hence why chocolate rum brownies are now banned," Clint grimaced remembering back to that night. It hadn't been fun when his son had snuck into the batch of adult brownies. It'd been less fun explaining to his wife about it. "I'll sneak a batch in somewhere since no one else can be bothered cooking."

"Speaking of getting drunk," Jared snapped his fingers for the vodka bottle. "I plan on getting very smashed tonight. Lets get this party started."

Clint handed the bottle over to Jared who took a long drink from it. As soon as he finished, Natasha snatched it from his hands and did exactly the same. Clint grimaced watching the pair of them. He was very glad he wasn't have to deal with the aftermath of both of them tomorrow morning. Natasha was bad enough. Adding Jared into the mix usually just ended in disaster.

After half a bottle of vodka the beer tasted acceptable enough to drink. Jared half staggered through the crowd before remembering he didn't have to walk like a normal person. Grinning to himself he teleported right in front of the keg, scaring the shit out of a group of guys standing by it. Only a few of them didn't react.

"Move, Romanoff needs beer," Jared declared pushing his way to the front of the keg. "And I'm not going to be the idiot who goes back empty handed."

"Who got the stripper?" someone declared loudly from the front room.

Jared sniggered but ignored it. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence for someone to get a stripper in for the keg parties.

"Did you get a stripper again Jared?" Rumlow asked with a raised eyebrow as he came over to the keg. "Apparently she needs to be paid."

"Wasn't me, I'm not putting in for it," Jared shrugged filling the cups. It was taking a lot more concentration that he intended to show. Whatever that vodka was, it was very lethal. "I don't need to pay for sex unlike some people, or to touch women. They just throw themselves at me."

"You're such a slut," Rumlow just laughed. "Fine, I'm putting in $100. Think I'll get a personal lap dance?"

"If you're that desperate," Jared scoffed playfully. "Or she is. I'm not sure which one it'd be. I'd add more money onto it to let her deal with you."

"Fine, wanna put in for Riley to get a lap dance?" Rumlow said a little louder than before. "Cuz even I'm starting to feel sorry for him for not having a girl in ages."

"Fuck off Rumlow," was the reply from across the room from Riley. "I don't need a lap dance, I'm perfectly capable of picking up women by myself."

"Off you go then," Rumlow called back. "She's blonde and hot, have fun."

"Speaking of blonde," Jared said juggling the beer so he could take his phone from his pocket. He checked his phone to see if there was anything else from Kari. Nothing yet. She couldn't be too far away. He teleported back to the corner Natasha, Clint and he had commandeered for the night.

"Apparently we have a stripper," Jared chuckled handing the beer out. "Who did it this time?"

"Not me," Clint laughed. "Nat?"

"Innocent for once in my life," Natasha laughed as well. "Isn't it a little early for a stripper?"

"It's never too early for a stripper," Clint smirked, earning him a punch in the arm from Natasha.

"Just wait until I tell Laura that," Natasha scowled at him. "Should we go and check this stripper out?"

"I'll go, apparently she's blonde and hot so I'm half interested," Jared took a sip of beer and handed the cup back to Natasha. "Back in a sec."

He teleported to the other room where he heard the commotion from before. There wasn't a blonde female stripper anywhere to be seen. Pouting slightly Jared walked through the house, only to nearly run into someone who was walking in a hurry.

"We're going," a voice Jared knew very well said in a breathless rush. "Like now."

"When did you get here Kari?" Jared asked looking at his twin sister. She was stilled dressed in her formal uniform, minus the hat and jacket.

"Like 4 minutes ago," Kari smiled but there was a hint of nerves to it. "I'm shattered and I think I just offended someone. Can we go please?"

"Sure" Jared said with a flicker of disappointment. He'd been hoping she'd stay around for a few drinks at least. But he knew Kari wasn't really one for the party scene. Especially if she didn't know anyone there. Despite his teasing, he would have been more than happy for her to finally meet both Romanoff and Barton. He knew Natasha and Kari would get on like best friends within minutes. They were a lot alike. She did look absolutely exhausted though. His disappointment was replaced with guilt. He really should have insisted harder that he'd just go and pick her up. It was a 3 hour drive from Langley Air Base. Kari started work at 7am most mornings. It'd just made her day very long.

"Thanks," Kari looked relieved as she reached over and hugged her twin. Jared returned the hug briefly. It was really good to see her. It was so rare they got the to see each other for more than a day at a time. Having her here for the weekend would be a lot of fun. As they walked out to the car, he quickly shot off a text to Natasha and Clint telling them he was heading home early.

* * *

Monday morning saw Jared walked through the halls of the Triskelion absently flicking through his mission brief with little interest. It was a simple intel gathering mission, something that would only take him a few days. It wasn't going to be hard, just a bit tedious. He sighed in disappointment scanning over the details again. It'd been awhile since he'd gotten something exciting for a mission. At the moment there was a lot of chatter going on in the Middle East. It wasn't anything specific, but it could be something big. SHIELD wanted to be on top of it in case it turned out to be something.

"Jared," Rumlow's voice made his head look up from the folder. He raised an eyebrow at the STRIKE force member walking towards him. He stopped and stood off to the side of the busy hallway.

"What?" Jared said with a bored sigh. This conversation was already boring him and it hand't even started yet.

"What the hell did you say to the stripper to get her to leave with you?" Rumlow came to stand in front of him with his arms crossed. "We all chipped in to pay her and she just gets up and leaves with you."

"What?" Jared frowned at Rumlow. "I didn't go home with the stripper. Must be some good drugs you're on there Rumlow."

"Tall blonde chick in the Air Force uniform," Rumlow explained looking exasperated."Yes you did, a few guys say you walking out with her. How the hell do you do that?"

Jared furrowed his brow staring at Rumlow for a second wondering if he was being serious or not. Then realisation hit him.

"Oh my fucking god," Jared burst out laughing. "That's fucking beautiful. Jesus Rumlow that wasn't a stripper. That was my sister. You fucking idiots."

"Wait you have a sister?" Rumlow wasn't happy at being laughed at. "Since when?"

"Since birth," Jared kept laughing. "She's my twin sister. The Raptor pilot? Or don't you ever listen to me when I talk."

"No I just tend to tune out when you speak," Rumlow sighed heavily. He was trying to keep a frown on his face but the hint of a smile was creeping there. "So we just got played out of $800."

"And I thank you for the nice places we went over the weekend then," Jared managed to wrangle his laughter back to a quieter chuckle. "I thought she was a bit too cashed up."

"I hate you," Rumlow just glared at Jared. There wasn't a lot of malice behind it. More disappointment than anything else. "Tell her next time she comes back to DC I want my fucking lap dance."

"I won't not let my sister touch you, even if she wore a biohazard suit," Jared shook his head in amusement. "So don't even go there otherwise I'd teleport you into a black hole. I can survive in space for 20 seconds. More than enough to leave you there."

Though the last part was said jokingly. Jared made sure there was enough firmness behind the threat to be taken seriously. Kari hadn't gone into detail over the weekend what was bothering her. But it was enough to bring out the protectiveness in Jared. Hearing the hassles the 2 new guys at her squadron were giving her made him think of 103 different ways he could creatively get them to back off. He'd even gone as far as to send Natasha a text to ask if she was keen on a small side trip to Virginia to help him out. But prying gently into it to see if Kari wanted some help in dealing with it made her clam up about it instantly. So Jared left the subject alone. It wasn't going to be the end of the subject though. Jared knew it was really upsetting her and it was slowly getting worse. It wouldn't be long until he discreetly stepped in.

"Yeah yeah whatever," Rumlow rolled his eyes and turned on his heel to walk off.

"I mean it Brock," Jared called after him. The warning in his tone as real this time. "Don't even think about it."

Jared felt a slight twinge of unease. It wouldn't be hard at all to track Kari down if Rumlow actually decided to do it. He knew his sister well enough that she wouldn't knock him back either. She didn't need to get tangled up with any kind of bullshit from his work. That included STRIKE members.

A middle finger being raised was the reply Jared got from him. As soon as he was out of earshot, Jared pulled his phone out and called Kari. He tapped his foot impatiently as it rang.

 _Hi you've reached Kari, leave a message._

Jared hung up without leaving a message. He instantly redialled hoping she'd pick up this time. He rarely called, and if he did calling twice in a row would be enough to raise suspicion. Or make her worry enough to answer the call.

"You know unlike some people I keep normal working hours and don't tend to answer my phone during them," Kari's sarcastic tone came through the phone. She sounded completely out of breath. Jared smirked and checked his watch. It was still early, only 0635. There could be every chance Kari was doing what he thought she might be doing.

"Am I interrupting something?" Jared asked innocently.

"Yes, my morning run, what do you want?" Kari said smartly. "You obviously aren't dying so please inform me on what it is that has you ringing me at stupid o'clock."

"So I just heard a very funny story from one of the STRIKE guys at the keg party," Jared said getting straight to the point. "Apparently there was a blonde stripper come into the party dressed in an Air Force uniform, managed to wrangle $800 out of them and then just left. Any idea on who it might be?"

There was only a second pause before Kari burst out laughing on the other end of the phone. It took her a good minute to regain her composure before she could actually speak.

"Oh my god they were so dumb, they fell for it straight away," Kari's voice was strangled as she tried to speak through her laughter. "Are you angry?"

"Oh hell no," Jared laughed along with his sister. "Proud actually. Very proud. No wonder you wanted to get out of there in a hurry."

"Well this is a first, my super spy brother is proud of me being able to pull that off," Kari teased lightly. "I enjoyed having the spending money. Not all of us work for well paying government organisations."

"Some of us work for the shitty paying ones by choice." Jared teased back. "That was the best thing I've heard in a long time. Thanks for the laugh on a Monday morning. When are you coming back for another visit?"

"No idea," Kari said. "I kind of put in another request for another tour in the Middle East. Hoping I'll get it to keep my flying hours up."

"You've already done 2 tours," the news sobered Jared's mood instantly. "Why another?"

"Why not?" Kari said casually. "After all, otherwise I'm just sitting around hoping to get flying hours during the week and listening to my crazy neighbours either have loud sex or loud parties. There's nothing happening here at all right now."

"Have you told Mom and Dad yet?" Jared tried not to sigh. After just reading his mission brief, the last place he wanted his sister to be was in the Middle East. Call it hindsight, or paranoia but Jared had a horrible feeling something big was coming.

"No," Kari snorted in disgust. "I'll wait until the day I'm leaving to tell them. It'll only be 3 months like last time. What's wrong?"

Jared looked around him carefully to make sure no one important was in earshot. Just to make sure, he quickly teleported to the back of the archery field. It was deserted at this time of morning. Barton would have been either long gone, or still awhile away from making it there. Even if he was there he'd understand what Jared was about to do.

"I really don't think you should be going anywhere near the Middle East," Jared said bluntly. "Especially at the moment."

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. All Jared could hear was Kari's heavy breathing gradually slowing down.

"This is my job Jared," Kari sounded frustrated. "I don't tell you where to go for yours."

"I know," Jared pinched the bridge of his nose trying to find the right words to describe this. He couldn't tell her any details which would just make her angry about not knowing "Just, please Kari don't. Just give it a few months."

"You can't tell me can you?" Kari sighed quietly making Jared feel extremely guilty. Although they lived completely different and separate lives, she was still his baby sister. And with that came a fierce protectiveness. Even though she didn't need it, Jared couldn't help but look out for her. He'd never admit that to her though.

"No I really can't," Jared tried to put what he needed to into words. "Please, just skip this tour. For me Kars. I may just be paranoid, but there is so much stuff going on in the world that you don't know about. I don't want you anywhere near the Middle East."

"Why though?" Kari sighed again, this time it was more in frustration "Come on Jared, I don't want details. Just give me some kind of clue here."

"I don't have details" Jared said carefully "But I am leaving for an intel gathering mission this morning."

"And I don't have the clearance level to hear or know about it because I'm not, SHIELD" Kari repeated in bored tone, the same sentence Jared had often parroted to her. "Fine, I'll pull my request. You need to set me up with one of those hot guys that were there last night though. Damn there was some seriously big muscles around."

"I am not setting you up with a STRIKE guy," Jared said jokingly instantly. Though he was very relieved to hear those words coming from her mouth. Jared had promised himself time and time again he would never interfere with his sister's life. She didn't want to be part of SHIELD and loved her job as a Pilot. He couldn't be prouder. But if there was something big about go down in the Middle East, he'd personally hack into the USAF database and make sure her request disappeared if she didn't pull it. He wasn't against playing dirty to keep the people he cared about most in the world safe and out of harms way at all times.

"Well what's the good of you," Kari joked back. "Anyway I have to go. I need a shower and I'm going to walk past the pararescue guys in uniform so they can salute me. It turns me on a bit."

"That's my sister," Jared said proudly. He meant it too "I'll let you know when I'm back. Call Mom and Dad please, so they stop bugging me about never hearing from you."

"Yeah, yeah," Kari snorted. "Bye, have fun and don't burn anything down."

"No promises," Jared laughed genuinely this time. "Bye."

The phone went dead in his ear. Jared just looked at the blank screen before chuckling to himself at Kari's antics. She definitely could still surprise him.

"For someone who's a spy for a living, you are so fucking oblivious sometimes," Clint's voice made Jared jump in surprise and look up. Clint was standing a few feet away leaning on his bow casually.

"Some people need to learn to make noise when they walk," Jared just chuckled quietly. He wasn't bothered at all by Clint's teasing. "So, you remember hearing about the stripper?"

"Yeah, what about her?" Clint asked as he picked his bow up. "Nat and I left right after you. Hows your sister who you still didn't introduce to us."

"Funny you should ask," Jared grinned. "Apparently someone thought she was the stripper for the night. She got them to pay and just walked out with me."

Clint stared at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. He had to put his bow back down on the ground he was laughing so hard.

"That is the best thing I've heard in a long time," Clint finally managed to wrangle his laughter back down to quiet chuckles. "Holy shit, we seriously need to get her back here to catch up."

"I will do what I can when I get back," Jared promised. "I have to go though. Dinner when I get back?"

"Your shout at HeeBeen," Clint was still chuckling. "Later, don't get into any mischief."

"I always do."

Jared concentrated on the room at his safe house in the Middle East. He'd been there a hundred times making it a simple teleport. One second he was standing on the archery fields, the next in the tiny dusty lounge room smack bang in the middle of Bagdhad. Jared groaned at the blast of heat hit him a second later. Nope this wasn't going to be a fun mission at all.

 **Authors Note.**

 **I'd been playing with this for a little while. A random bout on insomnia and writers block just made me finish it after it'd been sitting there for months with only a few paragraphs written.**

 **I have a few more of these floating in my head. It gives me a nice break from writing sometimes and really helps keep everything going.**

 **Suggestions? Prompts from my fans of Crystallize? If not I just hope you all enjoyed it! I can't promise anything being added to it soon. But there will be a few more thrown around eventually.**


	2. Chapter 2

"If I didn't know you any better Jared I'd say you were trying to get in my pants," Natasha said smartly as she sat down on the couch. "You brought me champagne, strawberries…"

"French champagne," Jared cut in with a charming smile. He pulled the cork on the bottle he was opening. It opened with a satisfying pop, following by a small bit of foam. "Only the best for the Black Widow."

"And pizza," Natasha finished with a barely contained laughed. "Not sure the pizza fits in."

"Hey you said you wanted pizza," Jared laughed. He poured the champagne into the 2 waiting glasses on the coffee table. "I wasn't going to argue. I've been away long enough that I really need an American pizza. Here you go."

Jared handed one of the glasses to Natasha. She took it with a smile as she settled back into the couch, wriggling until she was comfortable. Taking a sip of the champagne Natasha closed her eyes in satisfaction as the bubbles slid down her throat. Jared sure knew how to pick a good drop of alcohol.

"So whats the special occasion?" Natasha curled up, hooking her feet underneath her.

"I'm commiserating my month off field duties," Jared pulled a face as he threw himself down on the couch. He balanced his own glass of champagne and the pizza box taking care not to spill the expensive alcohol. "This is going to suck on a level of fucking sucking."

"You were stupid enough to shoot your target and then burn down the building," Natasha had no sympathy as she snatched a slice of pizza from the box. She stuffed the still hot slice in her mouth looking at Jared, waiting for his explanation. Jared bending the rules was nothing new. Breaking them in such a dramatic way was something different for him though.

"The guy had it coming," a dark looked crossed Jared's face. "Fury can't be that pissed about it. I got all the intel we needed on him."

"Still," Natasha swallowed the mouthful of pizza before continuing. "Why'd you do it?"

Jared shrugged. He took his own slice of pizza, jamming half of it into his mouth. The extra big mouthful gave him enough chewing and swallowing time to think of a suitable answer to Natasha. He demolished the rest of the slice as well just for more time. Honestly, he wasn't terribly proud of himself for what he did. It was wrong to lose his control so badly, especially after this had been a target he'd been tracking for months. He thought about lying to her. But Natasha would always call him out on it. She knew him better than anyone. So lying was pointless.

"There's the scum of the earth, and then theres the scum of the scum of the earth," Jared began begrudgingly. "This guy really was the latter. Can't say I was too upset to torture all the information I needed out of him before shooting him."

"That's cold for you," Natasha picked a slice of pepperoni off her slice and nibbled on it. "Still doesn't tell me why you did it."

"Did you know any info on him?" Jared asked.

Natasha simply shook her head.

"To start with I thought I was just investigating another human trafficking ring, the typical ones with weapons and drugs on the side. I didn't even know why SHIELD was so interested in it to begin with," Jared paused to take a long drink of champagne. He needed the alcohol to help fuel his explanation along. "Then I found out exactly why I got the mission. His speciality was underage girls, Enhanced underage girls. Though he wasn't fussy on the underage part if they were Enhanced."

Natasha paused with her glass mid way to her lips. She could stomach a lot of things. But this was one very sore subject for her. Adding to the fact it'd been Enhanced just made it even worse. An involuntary shudder went through her body which was quickly chased away by a long drink from the glass.

"It could have been one of my cousins caught up in that," Jared's face twisted in disgust at the mere thought of it. "Fuck me, it could have been my own sister caught up in that. The things I found out…"

Jared trailed off with a shudder. He finished the glass of champagne in one long drink before pouring another. Natasha just sat there patiently. Eating her way around her pizza slice waiting until Jared was ready to talk again.

"He laughed when I interrogated him about it," Jared's eyes dropped down from Natasha's face. "Laughed in my fucking face, until I grabbed his arm and set it alight. He wasn't laughing too hard then. Spilt everything I needed in about 2 seconds flat after that."

"Then why kill him?" Natasha pried gently. It wasn't very often Jared let emotion get in the way of his job. Under his easy charm, he was cold and merciless when it came to his job. But he always did things the right one and never let himself get caught in the tangled web of emotions. It was a dangerous territory every spy stepped into. To get caught up in the job that it affects your judgement could mean a very slippery slope. Agents had gone crazy over less things than what Jared had just done.

"Why let him sit in a cell and be comfortable for the rest of his life?" Jared scoffed. "He didn't deserve to breath let alone anything else. I didn't get into that much trouble for killing him to be honest."

Natasha raised a questioning eyebrow. Of course Jared wouldn't get in trouble for that. There's always the chance a hostile needs to be taken out. Even if the orders were to bring them in alive. Self defence is a very handy little line that could get one out of a lot of trouble.

"Yeah Fury just went blah blah follow orders blah blah blah," Jared made a talking motion with his hand. "Next time you decide to burn a building down let us know so we don't have the local authorities on our ass. We can send in a clean up crew and not have to make excuses."

Natasha had just taken a sip of champagne. She had to stop herself choking on it at the end of Jared's explanation. Jared shot her a wry smile as she covered her mouth coughing.

"Yeah stupid isn't it?" Jared took another slice of pizza from the box. "I torture and kill my target, but get into more trouble for burning the building down."

"You're just lucky that Fury likes you," Natasha said dryly. "And you're good at your job. At least you'll have us stuck with you on base for at least the next month."

"Yeah why is that?" Jared grabbed the bottle of champagne and topped both of their glasses up. He had another 3 bottles in the fridge and planned on getting through them all tonight.

"Because Barton has something like 30 mission reports he decided not to do," Natasha rolled her eyes. "So Coulson has grounded us both until they're all done. Even then I'm not holding my breath about getting anything exciting for awhile. It'll be punishment for Barton being a slack ass."

"Sucks to be you having a handler," Jared grinned. "And having a partner which means if he's a shit you wear it too."

"It could be worse," Natasha mused looking at Jared over the lip of her glass with a small grin. Jared just raised his eyebrow in question. "I could be stuck with you."

"Touché," Jared raised his glass and clinked it against hers. On the coffee table Jared's voice vibrated as a message came through. He glanced at the name on the screen before picking it up. He chuckled quietly as he saw it was from Kari.

 _I'm standing here pretending to message someone important so I don't look like a loser. I'm not tipsy enough to be sociable yet._

"Kari?" Natasha asked. Jared nodded and handed the phone over the Natasha. She skimmed over the screen, breaking into her own quiet laughter after a few seconds.

"She's at a drinking night with her Squadron," Jared explained before Natasha could ask. "Give her a jet and she can fly the pants off just about anyone and she laughs while she does it. A night out being sociable and I think she was even considered letting me teleport her here instead of going. I told her to put her big girl pants on and go be sociable."

 _Solution to that is drink more. Get to it. I am tonight._

Jared typed as he was talking to Natasha.

"You two are such opposites," Natasha drained half of her glass in one go. "Its weird,"

"In some ways," Jared shrugged. "But in other ways we're the same. Like tonight we're both getting drunk."

"I'll drink to that," Natasha laughed as she took another long drink. "This shit is good. Where did you get it?"

"In a very nice little boutique winery in Southern France," Jared smiled as he took another savouring sip. It was a shame to get drunk off such nice champagne. But sometimes in life you just had to be a little be crazy. The splurge of money on it was going to be worth the end result.

2 bottles down, all of the pizza and half the strawberries gone, Jared got up to put a DVD on.

"Requests?" Besides Lilo and Stitch," Jared went to stand up. A wave of dizziness hit him hard, making him stagger into the coffee table. Jared quickly regained his balance, shaking his head.

"Lightweight," Natasha laughed. She was curled up with a cushion pulled to her chest. "It wasn't that strong."

"Apparently it was," Jared laughed as well straightening up. "I'm getting soft in my old age."

"Says the person a year younger than me," Natasha scoffed at him. "I don't care what movie, just pick something."

"Technically I'm only 5 months younger than you," Jared pointed out as he opened the DVD cabinet. "So be nice to me and I might not put you in a nursing home first."

Another wave of dizziness hit Jared suddenly. He gripped the edges on the cabinet to steady himself. Nausea made bile rise up from the back of his throat as he stood there feeling like he was about to fall down.

"Jared?" Natasha's voice sounded far away. "Are you ok?"

Jared couldn't focus on anything but how fucking dizzy he felt. It was getting so intense. Then the dread hit him just as hard, followed by the unmistakable feeling of terror. A terror so great he felt like he'd just been chilled to the bone. And then nothing. Absolutely nothing except his own teeth chattering.

"Jared!" Natasha's voice snapped him out of it.

Jared suddenly realised his eyes had been squeezed shut. He opened his arms to find flames coming from his hands, covering the DVD cabinet.

"Fuck," Jared quickly pulled away. The flames died quickly not leaving a mark behind. He stared at the cabinet trying to piece together what had just happened. His head felt so damn fuzzy. Like it'd just been stuffed full of cotton wool. He scrunched his face up, scrubbing a palm over it trying to concentrate.

"What's going on?" Natasha's steady voice made him look around back to her. She was still sitting in the same position as before. But now she was coiled, ready to jump into action at a moments notice.

"I have no idea," Jared grimaced as the nauseous feeling still rising in the back of his throat. "It just felt like I was about to pass out. Then…."

Jared trailed off. His eyes wide in sudden realisation on what just happened.

"Phone," Jared looked around frantically for the device. It was sitting on the table where he'd thrown it on earlier. With shaking hands he picked it up and quickly pressed Kari's number.

"Pick up," Jared squeezed his eyes shut again. This time in worry more than feeling sick. "Please pick up your phone."

"Hey," a hand lay on his arm making him open his eyes. Natasha was off the couch looking up at him, worry causing her to frown. "What's going on?"

Kari's voicemail kicked in and Jared hung up. He redialled straight away before explaining to Natasha.

"I think something happened to Kari," Jared's voice grew hoarse from worry. "Can you see if you can track her phone?"

"On it," Natasha slipped into her Black Widow facade. Calm and unflappable. Jared didn't need panic right now, he needed assistance. She pulled her own phone out and started tapping away on the screen with well practiced fingers. "Number?"

"It's an iPhone just log into her Find my iPhone, she's not security paranoid like us," Jared said as he listening to the phone just ring in her ear. He rattled off the login information for Natasha while she pulled it up. After a few seconds Natasha held her own phone up to his face.

Jared swore as Kari's voicemail kicked in again. He resisted the urge to thrown his own phone across the room in frustration. He looked at the blue dot growing on the screen. His worry was only tempered slightly when he saw it moving. He went to ring Kari's phone again when his own phone lit up. A second later the name Coulson flashed on his screen as it began to ring.

"Lyngley," Jared answered out of habit. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he waited for the other Agent to speak on the other end of the phone.

"We have a situation," Coulson's voice was calm. "You need to come in."

* * *

Jared watched from the other side of the window feeling ill at ease. His sister was sleeping peacefully now, lightly sedated but safe from harm. To his side, one of SHIELD's doctors was explaining everything to him. Coulson was standing a few paces way, arms crossed as he listening as well.

"A nasty dose of Rohypnol, her blood pressure is low, she's dehydrated but otherwise physically fine," the Doctor sighed quietly. "She threw up most of the flight back here, so hopefully that got most of it out of her system. I've got her hooked up to fluids as a precaution though."

Jared couldn't think of anything to say. His tongue was tied as he just stared at his sleeping twin. Those two fucking idiots from her Squadron had just paid the ultimate price for messing with Kari. At least it'd be the last time they did it. He was mostly horrified that the two men thought it'd be a good idea to drug her. But the smallest bit of him was very proud that her powers came out at the appropriate time. She was a hell of a lot more powerful with her Cyrokinesis than Jared could ever hope to be with his fire manipulation. Whether it'd been nothing more than a defence mechanism he was still very relieved that she still had it in her.

"How soon is she going to be awake?" Coulson asked.

"It'll be awhile," the Doctor gave an apologetic shrug. "At least 24 hours. I'd like to keep her under observation for that long anyway. It was a high dose she was given. One of the side effects can be respiratory problems. Its rare, but I'd like to be sure before we release her. Is there anything else?"

"No, thank you, "Coulson gave the Doctor a brief smile. The Doctor took it as his cue to leave the room. Just before the door clicked shut, Natasha slipped in silently.

"Fury would like a word Sir," Natasha said quietly to Coulson. Her eyes flicked over to Jared who hadn't moved or said a word since Kari had been wheeled into medical. Coulson nodded in acknowledgement, leaving the pair silently.

Natasha walked over to Jared and stood next to him in silent support. It took a few minutes but Jared broke the silence eventually.

"I should have dealt with this months ago," Jared's voice was scratchy and heavy with emotion. "I should have made those two fucking idiots disappear. None of this would have happened if I'd done the right thing and helped her."

"She didn't want your help," Natasha said gently. Jared didn't need her bluntness right now. He needed someone to talk to. If Natasha tried to do anything but comfort him at the moment he'd clam up and not talk at all. "Did you get the full story?"

"One of them pretended to knock a beer from her hand," Jared's hand clenched into a tight fist. He could feel the flames licking up from his palm as he struggled to contain his emotions. "He must have slipped something into it when he handed it back. She started to feel sick so decided to leave. One of them grabbed her before she left, the other was right behind her. But she didn't know the other guy was behind her. She lost control of her powers, froze the room over and killed both of them."

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Natasha said evenly. "Are you ok?"

"I'm…" Jared trailed off. For the first time that night he didn't know what he felt. Anger was the first emotion that came to mind. But after that it was dread and fear. This wasn't going to turn out well for Kari. She'd always been so careful with her powers. SHIELD was going to be very unhappy about such a disaster happening in public. Especially on military property, since it was at the Officer's bar. There was going to be a lot of mess to clear up.

Natasha didn't push. She stood there with Jared, watching his twin. It took another few minutes before Jared spoke again.

"I felt it," Jared's voice grew hoarse again. "The dizziness was her trying to gain control. The terror of that guy grabbing her, she would have known exactly what they were trying to do."

"They're dead now," Natasha placed a soothing hand on Jared's back. She rubbed it in what she hoped to be comforting circles. "And she's safe."

"I should have dealt with this when I knew it was bothering her," Jared said again shaking his head. "Her whole life is ruined and I could have done something to prevent this."

"If you'd dealt with it you'd be in the world of trouble, possibly trouble even SHIELD wouldn't bail you out of," Natasha said tactfully. "You're no good to her in jail."

Kari stirred briefly in her sleep. Jared tensed, ready to teleport right beside her if she woke up. But she settled right back on the bed and stayed asleep.

"You look so much alike," Natasha mused. She'd been watching as well, her attention drawn by the small movements. "Are you identical?"

"No, may as well be though," Jared tried to offer a smile but it came out more like a grimace. "We're both just tall, blonde with blue eyes. Mom always said she's the better behaved one out of both of us."

"That I don't doubt for a second," Natasha's smile as genuine. "Don't beat yourself up over this. There's nothing you could have done without causing a lot of trouble for yourself. And for her as well."

"It still doesn't make me feel any less guilty," Jared felt his throat tighten momentarily. "She's a lot like you Tasha. You know the reason why she's flying F-22s?"

Natasha just shook her head.

"Because the recruiter laughed at her and told her she couldn't do it," Jared filled in. "So she worked 10 times harder than anyone else. She pushed and forced herself to be the best, simply because if she wasn't she wouldn't prove that recruiter wrong. She's been kicked down so many times but keeps dragging herself back up. I don't know how she's such a good person after all the shit she always seems to go through. She doesn't deserve this."

Jared was interrupted by any further talking by his phone. It was a message from Coulson asking him to come into Fury's office right now. Jared forced back a sigh of irritation. A flash of nerves came along with that irritation. Fury being called in on a Saturday night at nearly 1am was never going to be a pretty sight.

"I'll be back soon," Jared cast one final look at his peacefully sleeping twin. "Just, let me know if she needs me, ok?"

"I won't move until you get back," Natasha assured him. To emphasise her point, Natasha pulled a chair up and sat down in it. Jared shot her a thankful look before teleporting directly to Fury's office. It was just the two of them. Coulson was nowhere to be seen. Fury was standing at the window looking out over the twinkling lights of DC.

He'd been here so many times over the last few years, it didn't even get a flinch from Fury these days. Jared sat in the waiting chair, arms crossed ready to hear what the Director of SHIELD had to say about this colossal fuck up. He was prepared to do whatever was necessary to make things easier for Kari.

"Tell me Agent Lyngley," Fury turned away from the window to face Jared. "Has your sister's feelings on SHIELD changed much over the last few years?"

"No," Jared couldn't bring himself to keep this conversation civil. With that one question, he knew exactly where Fury was leading this line of questioning. It was one he'd already hashed out with him several times, especially over the last 12 months. "This wasn't her fault."

"No it wasn't," Fury was calm. His one good brown eye staring down the younger Agent in front of him. "However I now have a big clean up on my hands. I have Agents already on site debriefing her Squadron. The clean up crew have no idea where to start defrosting 2 inches of ice covering the entire room. And I have no idea what to do with the First Lieutenant sleeping off a date rape drug in my medical wing. Do you care to add any helpful suggests?"

Fury's voice never got louder. His tone just got harsher as it went on. Jared really wished sometimes he'd just yell. It'd make things easier to cop when he yelled. That harsh disapproving tone made it feel like you were being scolded and disciplined by a very unhappy parent.

"Offering a job isn't going to change her mind on SHIELD," Jared tried to keep his cool under the pressure of that stare. "She'll refuse. And even if she doesn't I don't think sticking her in a Quinjet will tame the adrenaline junkie in her."

"And if we make it so she can't refuse?"

Jared's stomach dropped at the not too veiled threat. He had a horrible nagging feeling in the back of this mind that this would happen. He knew SHIELD had been chasing his sister, especially after she'd starting making a name for herself in the Air Force. Combined with her love of shooting, their shared talent of learning new languages and her 2 tours overseas he could see exactly where Fury was going with this. STRIKE was looking like a very convenient place for her to end up in.

"I won't be part of it," Jared said hotly. "No, fuck it Nick. She's had enough problems lately let alone twisting her arm in joining SHIELD."

"I'm not asking you to be part of it," Fury didn't bother to correct Jared on using his first name. "I'm just telling you that she's going to be given a choice. The one she takes will probably end you up with a roommate for the foreseeable future."

That wasn't a surprise. Jared knew the easiest thing right now would be for Kari to stay with him. What he didn't like was the other offer Fury was going to put on the table.

"And if she refuses?" Jared asked.

"My powers of persuasion will say she won't," Fury pulled his chair out from the desk and sat down in it. "Does she know the protocol for someone on the Index after an incident like this happens?"

"Vaguely, she'll assume she's being sent to the Fridge," Jared said begrudgingly giving out the information. While he knew Kari really had no idea what the Fridge was, things got thrown around the dinner table on holidays. Or the Sandbox. Even though Jared himself had no real idea what on at the Sandbox. He didn't want to know either.

"So she'll be threatened with jail for something that wasn't her fault, but is a complete idle threat," Jared pinched the bridge of his nose. He hated where this conversation was going. Protocol would dictate an assessment to make sure she was stable with her powers. SHIELD would then set her up with a new life. But the offer to join SHIELD was always there. Fury just wanted to push the issue to make sure he got what he wanted.

"Just for a year," Fury softened the blow slightly. "I just want her for a year. After that she's free to go and live her life."

"This isn't fair on her," Jared's fingers went from pinching his nose to rubbing his temples. He could feel a headache coming on from the stress of everything tonight. Or the after effects of the champagne he'd drunk. "You can't omit details on what would actually happen to her if she doesn't accept your offer. Its blackmail."

"Coercion is a better word for it," Fury didn't bother to apologise or explain himself. Jared knew well enough that once he had his mind set on something it'd take a mountain to move it. "I'm sending Agents to pack her apartment up tomorrow."

Jared knew he didn't have a choice in the matter. No matter what from now on Kari was going to be joining SHIELD whether she wanted to or not.

"You're so telling my Mom," Jared said angrily. "I am not bearing the brunt of that phone call."

The grimace of having to deal with that piece of information crossed Fury's face. Jared had to stop the smug smiling from slipping onto his face. Lets see how the Director of SHIELD dealt with his head of Human Resources throwing a fit over him doing that to her baby girl. Especially the head of Human Recourses who could manipulate emotions. If his Mom was going to be angry, then Fury was going to be in a world of pain very shortly.

"I suggest you clean out your spare room," Fury said leaving no room for any further discussion. "Now get out of my office."

Jared was only more than happy to oblige.

 **Authors Note.**

 **Ok, I said I wasn't going to update much before Xmas. But these one shots are very easy to tap out in a few hours. I can usually get them done quite easily.**

 **This one is for kira shadow wolf. Hope you enjoy it**!

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	3. Chapter 3

**This ties in right before Kari meets Clint at the shooting range.**

"Fine, if you won't feed me I'll go myself," Kari stood up pulling a disgusted face at Jared. "You're so fucking mean to me."

With that she stomped to the door. Jared kept his head buried in the laptop to hide his smirk. Kari had just fallen right into his trap of getting out of the room for 10 minutes. He wasn't an idiot. He watched Riley follow his sister out of the corner of his eye until she had left the room. Only then did he actually turn back to his work.

"She's single you know," Jared spoke up as soon as the door slammed shut.

"I know," Riley didn't look up from his work. His fingers tapped away at the keyboard. Jared raised an eyebrow in surprise. As far as he knew Kari and Riley barely had a conversation together. Despite Riley driving her home a few times, Kari insisted they really didn't talk that much. But he wasn't blind. He could tell when his sister was attracted to someone. Riley was more subtle but Jared wasn't missing the hints he was giving off. They were both being idiots. But Jared didn't know Riley well enough to call him out on it. However he wasn't above being sneaky to get the information he wanted.

"How do you know?" Jared pressed for an answer.

"Because she told me," Riley's voice was giving nothing away as he continued to work. "Why does it matter to you?"

"Because I'm sick of seeing you two not acting on your feelings," Jared said bluntly. Subtle really wasn't going to work here. "She thinks she's being all smart and coy with it but I know her better."

That made Riley looked up from his computer and over to Jared. He pursed his lips before turning back to the screen. He wasn't actually typing anything. Just tapping on the keys looking embarrassed.

"I have this horrible feeling this is such a loaded question," Riley said dryly when he finally spoke. "If I say I like your sister you'll threaten me about breaking her heart or using her. If I say I don't like her then you'll be offended and ask why she isn't good enough for me."

"If I was a complete asshole I'd do that," Jared turned on the charm to try and pry some more information. "But I'm more curious. So do you like her or not?"

"She's pretty awesome," Riley's answer was vague and didn't really answer the question.

"Yeah she is," Jared kept going. "Weren't you a Marine or something? You guys should have something in common to talk about."

Jared knew Riley had been a SEAL. Even he was impressed by the quiet STRIKE member's service record. As soon as he saw Kari was interested in him, he'd pulled Riley's file out. After a curt email from Hill reminding Jared he was doing data entry, he only had time to skim over it. But he was just trying to really get this information out of him. It was almost frustrating Jared about how evasive he was being.

"Navy, I was a SEAL," Riley shrugged. "Not much in common with a fighter pilot."

Jared fought back his sigh of irritation. Riley wasn't making this easy on him.

"Still, shouldn't you have that whole ooh rah mentality? Pretty sure Kari does," Jared pressed some more. "She still walks with a stick shoved up her ass like a typical military person."

"Most military prefer to call it a military swagger," Riley laughed shortly. "I've been out a few years now, you lose it after awhile. Again, that's Marines. I was Navy, massive difference."

"You're deflecting," Jared smirked. "Come on man, do you like my sister or not? If you do I'm happy to push her in the right direction. She's pretty fucking oblivious to anything to do with feelings."

Besides, Jared had been keeping a very careful eye on a lot of the STRIKE guys he knew. He'd even asked Barton and Natasha to both make sure none of them bothered her. Kari had caused a big stir by joining SHIELD, whether she knew it or not. He'd lost track of the amount of times he'd told other guys to fuck off and mind their own business when they asked about her. Riley would be about the only guy he liked enough to actually let his sister go anywhere near. She'd had enough problems in the last few weeks, let alone getting into relationship problems this early in her life at SHIELD. Or getting the wrong kind of reputation which wouldn't be hard to do at all.

"Why is it so important to you?" a flash of annoyance crossed Riley's face as he looked up from the laptop. "I'm sure she's perfectly capable of making her own decisions."

Jared had to stop himself smiling. There is was. The defence mechanism coming out instead of actually answering the question.

"Because she's not only my sister, she's my twin," Jared explained. "She just got dealt a very shit hand after she worked her ass off to get where she was in the Air Force. She hated SHIELD and never wanted to be a part of it until her arm got twisted to join or end up in the Fridge. Idle threat, but she didn't know that. It was just Fury manipulating her into joining because SHIELD has wanted her since the day she graduated high school. So I will do everything in my power to make sure she's as happy as she can possibly be in the circumstances she just found herself in."

The silence in the room was near deafening. Jared had to hand it to Riley though. His stare never back down from Jared's face. It took a long minute before Riley spoke again. This time the annoyance was gone from his face and voice.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap," Riley offered a half smile. "Yeah I like your sister. She's smart and independent. Its awesome the way she never backs down from a challenge. I heard she sky dived the other night just to prove Rumlow wrong about something."

"That's my Kari," Jared smiled proudly. He heard the story as well. If he hadn't of been so annoyed about her taking his car that morning he probably would have congratulated her there and then. He loved doing anything to make Rumlow squirm. Especially if there was a crowd while he did it.

"I don't know if she likes me that much though," Riley's smile dropped and his eyes went back to his laptop screen. "I know she's had a hard time lately. I don't want to screw with her life anymore than it already has been."

"Oh for fuck sake," Jared had to laugh otherwise he'd throw something at Riley's head. "She likes you. Trust me. I'm sure she gets herself off thinking about you most nights. Her favourite word at the moment is your name."

That was a stretch of the truth. Kari was careful about not talking about Riley too much. Jared just knew by the way they looked at each other there was a definite spark.

"Just ask her out Riley," Jared continued. "I swear I'll even disappear for the night if you two want some alone time."

"I have my own apartment," Riley chuckled. "But thanks for the offer."

Jared decided not to push the issue any further. Despite working together for the last month and getting to know him, he didn't know Riley that well. He didn't want to piss him off and make things awkward for Kari just because he decided to be an asshole about things. He went back to the painfully boring job of doing data entry. Hill promised that if he got it all done by the end of the week she might consider reinstating him for field duties. After a month of being at the Triskelion Jared felt like he was ready to climb the walls. It felt like a glass prison most days. Secretly he was glad for Kari being around so he could help her out. Or feed her bullshit and watch it spin in her head until she called him out on it. Riley mostly did that for her though.

"So, if I was going to take your sister out on a date," Riley broke the silence after a few minutes. "Any suggestions? She's already told me she's more of a pizza, beer and come over naked kind of girl rather than romantic dinners and flowers."

Jared nearly choked on the lungful of air he'd just taken. It wasn't surprising that Kari had said that at all.

"Invite her to your place with beer and pizza?" Jared suggested unhelpfully with a muted laugh. "Be naked and see how it goes for you?"

"If I did that I'd worry she'd either castrate me," Riley shuddered at the mere thought of it. "Or I'd get the night of my life and never see her again."

"Could be both," Jared laughed properly this time. "I don't know, she likes hockey, fast jets and scotch. Maybe try and combine some of that together? And for the love of god do not put ice in her scotch. You'll never hear the end of it. Does this mean you're going to ask her out?"

"Maybe," Riley shrugged. "i've got my medical tomorrow to see if I can get cleared for duties again. I want to see how that goes first."

"How does it feel?" Jared decided to steer the conversation away from Kari for the moment. She'd been gone long enough that there was every chance she'd barge back into the room.

"No more fucked than the rest of me," Riley said with a quiet chuckle. Riley rotated his arm as if to prove to himself that it was functional and not still broken. "It was a pretty simple patch job. Just a dumb injury that I'll probably never hear the end of from my team."

"At least it wasn't something really dumb like breaking your tailbone trying to slid down a set of stairs on a sled," Jared chuckled. "Now that's something you would never hear the end of."

"That sounds like you know from experience," Riley glanced over to him with a small smile.

"Not me personally, but if I told you who it was you'd never believe me," Jared admitted with another chuckle. Truth be told, it was Natasha who'd done it. They'd all been drunk enough to think it was a fantastic idea. Unfortunately for Natasha she'd been the one to come off the sled halfway down the stairs and bounced down the rest of them on her ass. She'd sworn both Jared and Clint to secrecy when it happened. No one was game enough to question why she had walked around funny for 2 weeks. Even Coulson didn't question it. He just shook his head and was very adamant he didn't want to know.

"You three get up to the craziest shit," Riley shook his head as he started typing again.

Silence stretched out across the room. Jared was only half paying attention to his work. His brain was ticking over in trying to think of a way to get Kari and Riley together. And actually speak to each other. Jared sighed in frustration at the amount of work he still had to get done. He hated being here doing boring data entry. But at least he hadn't gotten a worse punishment. He could have been ended up guarding a base in Siberia for the next 3 years.

"Can I get Kari's number off you?" Riley broke the silence again.

Jared mentally high five himself on a job well done. But he wasn't going to make it that easy for Riley.

"Just ask her," Jared looked over to him with an infuriating smirk. "She won't say no."

A very irritated sigh was Jared's only reply. He stopped typing and looked over at Riley.

"And Riley?" Jared made sure he had the other man's attention before he continued. "You hurt my sister and there won't be any corner on this Earth that you can hide. I will find you and I will hunt you down and kill you. I'll even bring Romanoff along with me for the fun of it. Got it?"

The paling of Riley's face and the tight nod was enough to let Jared know he had most certainly got it. Jared flashed a charming smile over towards him to break the harsh words he'd just spoken.

"Good, just letting you know," Jared said brightly. "I'm going to tell Kari I'm working late tonight. Take your chance and run with it man."

Jared had to chew on the inside of his cheek hard to stop himself from laughing at the frustrated look on Riley's face. Riley didn't bother to answer which gave Jared time to pick his phone up and send Natasha a message.

 _I'm trying to get my sister laid. I'm hiding at your place tonight._

Just as Jared hit send, the door banged open and Kari walked back in.

"Who loves me?" She asked brightly holding up 2 coffee cups.

Jared smirked to himself seeing the conflict of emotions playing over Riley's face. This was far too much fun not to sit back and watch.

 **Authors Note**

 **My inspiration has run away at the moment so I decided to revisit this one and tap away at it to get my mojo back.**

 **If you're reading it. Hope you enjoyed it! I love requests for these one shots. So if you think of anything just send me a review or message.**


	4. Chapter 4

Jared fumbled around on the bedside table for his ringing phone. He was too exhausted to open his eyes to actually locate it. His hand finally came into contact with the thin iPhone and he rolled onto his back to answer it.

"Lyngley," Jared grunted into the phone. With his free hand he rubbed his eyes and finally pried them open. It was still dark in his room. The only light was coming clock on the bedside table and the lone glow in the dark star pressed on the roof. The clock beside him read only a few minutes after 1am.

"Agent Lyngley," a voice Jared knew but wasn't expecting to be coming down the other end of the phone spoke. "This is Agent Coulson,"

That made Jared bolt upright in bed. Before his mind caught up with his body he had already thrown the blankets off his half naked body. His brain finally caught up with his actions when he nearly fell over his own feet trying to tug his jeans on.

"What can I do for you Sir?" Jared asked. He shoved the phone between his ear and shoulder as he yanked the pants up over his boxers.

"I need you in Fury's office in 5 minutes," Coulson said plainly. "I have a mission for you. But it also comes with a personal favour to ask."

"I'll be there in 2 minutes," Jared promised. The line went dead in his ear and Jared threw his phone on the bed. He quickly turned the lamp on and searched around for a shirt that was acceptable for work. The floor of his room was littered with 2 weeks of dirty laundry that he hadn't bothered doing yet. Work had been hectic lately so the housework took very little priority. He pulled a simple grey t-shirt up off the floor and sniffed it. It was acceptable enough until he knew exactly what he was getting into. Grabbing his phone, Jared simply teleported to the front door where he'd kicked off his shoes earlier in the night. A pair of socks still sat in the black casual Nikes which he hastily yanked on. His stomach fluttering with nerves and excitement he concentrated on a room he knew well enough over the last year and a half in his time at SHIELD. The feeling of the world dropping out from underneath came quickly and disappeared just as fast as he found himself standing in front of Fury's desk. The director sitting in his chair and the legendary Phil Coulson right beside him.

Both men jumped at Jared's sudden appearance. Rather than be smart and make a sassy comment Jared stood there silently waiting for what he was about to get given. For Coulson to be calling him in on a mission it had to be something big. Probably something a lot bigger than his current level 4 clearance. This might even be the step up he needed to push for his level 5 clearance. Nearly unthinkable for an Agent who was still classified as fresh out of the Academy. Fury's office was brightly lit up despite the late hour. Jared had been here many times before. The large office was sparsely furnished except for the massive mahogany desk in front of him. The night lights of Washington DC twinkled below them as far as the eye could see. It was an impressive view of a daytime from the 44th floor of the Triskelion. Of a night time it was just as amazing.

"A minute and 20 seconds," Coulson looked at his watch. "I'm impressed Agent Lyngley."

"Thank you Sir," Jared fought to keep a smug grin from slipping onto his face. Being able to teleport had its advantages. "What can I do for you?"

"Explain to me how you teleport," Coulson stood next to Fury with his arms crossed studying the young Agent in front of him. "Stick to the basics and plain English. And what you need to get there safely."

"If I can see or have a detailed pictured of where I'm going I can focus on that area and in pretty simple terms create my own wormhole to there," Jared looked between the 2 senior Agents hoping he'd get a clue to what was going on. "There's a bigger and smart explanation Dad has if you want to know."

"Can you teleport here by looking at this?" Coulson handed his phone over to Jared. On the screen was the picture of a room, nothing out of the ordinary. Just a pretty bare room with a kitchen table, 2 chairs and a TV sitting on the floor. A fireplace sat in the wall towards what looked to be the only entrance into the room.

"As long as that's recent so I don't accidentally teleport into a wall," Jared handed the phone back. "Can I ask what's going on Sir?"

"Currently we have 2 Agents holed up in a cabin just outside of Yellowstone," Fury spoke up for the first time. "They've been there for 6 weeks chasing down a lead on a suspect terrorist group who we think are planning on trying to make Yellowstone erupt."

Jared raised an eyebrow at that. An interesting concept for a terrorist organisation to do something that would cause such a global catastrophe. Most terrorist groups wanted to be noticed and praised for their work. Not wipe out the entire planet.

"Unfortunately there has been a lot of snow dumped there over the last week," Fury continued. "Both the agents are holed in up a cabin with a wall of snow around them and no way to get out. We believe that this group may be making their move soon."

"So you need me to get them in and out," Jared filled in the blanks trying not to sigh in disappointment. There goes to feeling of excitement. This was quickly turning into another boring night where he'd much rather be in bed. But, this was also Agent Coulson asking. He'd be stupid to turn it down.

"We need you to assist in their mission," Coulson corrected. "Not only are they snowed in, they're also out numbered from the scarce reports we've gotten through. You can get in and out of places without detection, take out guards and so forth."

Jared straightened up a little at the promise of some action. He patiently waited for Coulson to finish the brief. Maybe this wouldn't be so disappointing after all.

"This needs to be handled quickly and discreetly," Coulson emphasised the last word heavily. "We don't need things like this getting out into the general public and causing a stir. This is a level 6 mission so you're being given temporary clearance until this mission is over. Do a good job and you'll be level 5 by the time you get back."

Jared kept his face schooled into a neutral expression. He didn't want to give away the excitement he was now feeling. Coulson had just dangled an impressive reward in his face.

"Who am I working with Sir?" Jared asked. His fingers were already itching to take Coulson's phone back off him to get a good view of the room so he could be on his way. He'd have to do a quick trip home to throw some basics together and stop by the armoury to check his weapons out. But he could be on his way within half an hour.

"Agent's Romanoff and Barton," Fury spoke this time.

A manic laugh nearly slipped straight out of Jared mouth. He managed to swallow it back with great effort and very visible gulp. Jared looked between the 2 men, watching their faces for any sign this was a joke. Or perhaps he'd just heard wrong. There was no way STRIKE Team Delta could need his help. Those pair were legends here at SHIELD. A mission like this would be a walk in the park for them.

"I'm sorry Sir, run that by me again?" Jared asked trying to keep himself polite. He must have heard wrong.

"Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff," Coulson filled in. "Hawkeye and Black Widow. Don't look so surprised Agent Lyngley. I told you there was a personal favour attached to this mission."

Jared forced himself not to gape at Coulson. It was taking a few seconds longer than normal but it all suddenly fell into place. Coulson was their handler. Of course that was the personal bit attached to this mission. Coulson went to great lengths to help his team out because of the insane situations they always managed to wind up in. Right now Jared was his own chance at getting his team to complete the mission and get out of there alive. Jared suddenly wasn't sure if he was extremely flattered to be asked to work with such a high profile team. Or dreading what might come with it. Barton and Romanoff were infamous in SHIELD for a number of reasons. It was a well known fact neither of them were team players. A STRIKE team onto themselves. Truthfully they didn't need anyone else. The pair of them covered all the positions a team needed between the two of them. Jared had a small amount of hero worship for the pair.

"Communications are patchy due to the weather," Coulson kept going despite Jared's silence. "So I'm having to send you in without them knowing. Whatever you do, don't piss Barton off. You won't dodge what he aims at you. I'm told you can occasionally play nice so I suggest you try that."

Jared flinched at the small taunt from Coulson. Of course he didn't play nice, its why he was a Specialist. A very good one Specialist. He'd gotten top marks at the Academy and flew threw the ranks as soon as he was an Agent. It hadn't taken Fury long to notice him and start handing him harder and harder missions despite his inexperience. Jared was smugly proud of the fact he was doing things a lot of Agent's wouldn't see for at least 5 years out of the Academy.

"Pack whatever you need, I suggest warm clothes and meet me back here," the dismissal was clear in Coulson's voice.

"Sir," Jared nodded to both Fury and Coulson. Going back to his apartment was easy. These days it was just a thought that took him there with no effort. The feeling of the teleporting didn't really register in his brain going to such a well known place. One second he was standing in the office and the next back in his bedroom. Jared grabbed a bag and started throwing clothes in it without looking what was clean or dirty. It didn't really matter. A mission like this didn't dictate a dress code. As long as it was warm, comfortable and suitable for the freezing winter it'd do.

In less than 5 minutes Jared was back at the Triskelion, bag in hand waiting expectingly in front of Coulson and Fury yet again. Both turned to look at him with near identical raised eyebrows at how quick it'd been. Coulson had been sitting on the edge of Fury's desk. He handed a piece of paper over to Jared, along with his phone.

"Give this to one of them, so they don't think you're there to take them out," Coulson explained.

Jared felt the flicker of nerves touch his insides again. Here he was walking into what could be a very messy situation. Recalling Coulson's words from earlier he knew he wouldn't dodge whatever Barton shot at him. He probably wouldn't dodge anything Romanoff aimed at him either.

"I know Barton can be a little," Coulson trailed off trying to think of the appropriate word. "Abrasive."

Jared fought to contain the snicker of amusement that rumbled through his chest. He quickly swallowed and just nodded instead.

"You're likely to get more trouble from him than Romanoff," Coulson continued. "Just don't do anything to piss him off. They have enough weapons to arm a small army, so just use what they have there."

"Yes Sir," Jared had nothing else to say. There was too many variables to come into play to sit down and hash them all out. All that needed to be said was 2 Agents needed help and he'd go in there and provide whatever support he could. "Is that all?"

"Report back only if you have any difficulties," Fury spoke up from behind his desk. "We want to keep this one quiet and contained. Dismissed."

Jared took one good long look at the photo of Coulson's phone. He wasn't a fan of teleporting this way, but it would have to do. He handed the phone back to Coulson and then concentrated. Visualising it in his mind Jared could feel the pull of his power as it wanted to take him there already. Closing his eyes, a habit when doing an unknown teleport, Jared let his power take over. The world dropped away from underneath him and then nothing for a second.

His feet touched solid ground again. Jared pried one eye open, happy to find he was standing in front of the TV. The room was dark, the only source of light was the glow of the TV power light on standby. The red cast around the black room with an eerie glow. The cabin was otherwise quiet. Jared let out the breath he'd been holding and rolled his shoulders to ease the tension in them. The teleport had been a lot better than he expected. Sometimes if he didn't quite know where he was going it felt like the universe put him on a spin cycle and then spat him back out. The headache and few minutes of retching after it happened wasn't a step forward, Jared promptly ran his shin into the leg of a chair.

"Fucking bitch," Jared cursed under his breath at the now throbbing leg. Just as he reached down to clutch at it, something pressed into the back of his head. The unmistakable sound of a chamber being slid into the round of a sidearm made Jared freeze instantly. His hands went up in a show he wasn't armed. His bag hit the ground with a muffled thump.

"How the fuck did you get in here?" the deep voice seemed to vibrate around the small room, even though it was said quietly. Jared had only heard that voice a few times, but he instantly knew it.

"Coulson sent me," Jared said calmly. "Agent Barton, I'm Agent Jared Lyngley."

"Badge," Clint's voice was tight with suspicion.

Jared slowly lowered one of his arms and reached into his jeans pocket, pulling out the small black wallet that held his badge and ID. He held it behind him, not game to turn to face Clint just yet.

"I've also got something from Coulson for you," Jared felt the piece of paper crinkle in his free hand that was still held up. "Its in my other hand."

All Jared got was a grunt, which he hoped was going to be a yes to him hand it over. He moved the paper around in his hand until it was sticking out through his fingers. Clint snatched it from him as soon as the piece of paper was visible. Jared stood there trying not to let his nerves kick in any further. Barton still hadn't taken the gun away from head and he knew there was a round in the chamber. The paper crinkled a few times as Clint scanned over it. It seemed to take an eternity until the gun was pulled away from Jared's head.

"Apparently the head of HR would be upset if I shot her son," Clint's voice was a low grumble. "And I would never get another bow in my life. Make yourself at home Agent Lyngley."

The pressure lifted from Jared's head and he let out a small sigh of relief. Well, that was the first obstacle out of the way. He'd made it without getting shot within in the first 2 minutes. Footsteps walked a few paces away and the lights blazed on overhead. Jared grimaced and blinked in the bright light while his eyes adjusted to the sudden intrusion. Turning around he got a good look at the infamous Hawkeye.

His first thought was how much terrible Barton actually looked. The other Agent collapsed into a chair at the table, rubbing his face tiredly. Clint had huge dark circles under his eyes, he looked like he hadn't eaten properly in weeks. His face was covered in a least a week worth of growth. Jared hesitated, staying on his feet not wanting to intrude just yet.

"I won't shoot you," Clint's voice almost sounded amused as he glanced up at Jared. "Sit the fuck down, you make the place look untidy."

The small log cabin was already pretty untidy. Now the light was on Jared got a good look around him. It looked like someone had either ransacked the place, or they'd been having the time of their lives. Clothes were strewn around on every inch of the floor. Dishes were piled in the sink and beside it. Weapons cases sat underneath the table, discreetly hidden by a tablecloth. Jared hit his shin again as he hastily pulled himself down into the chair. This time he ignored the pain, keeping his eyes on Barton.

"So you're the crazy fucker that can teleport," Clint leant back in his own chair, watching Jared carefully. "I'd offer you something to drink, but 2 problems. One, I'm not that polite and 2 as you can see we're not that heavy on supplies here."

Jared opened his mouth to make a smart reply. It was cut off by the muffled sound of someone coughing. The coughing fit was so bad it sounded like whoever it was could barely breath. At the sound of it Clint shot to his feet and disappeared into the room off the kitchen. Jared slowly pushed the chair back and got up to follow. It was only a few paces away from the table. He hung back in the doorframe unsure what to do. The room had nothing but a queen sized bed in it. Clothes were strewn on the floor carelessly, not unlike his own apartment.

In the dimly lit room his next question of where Romanoff was, got quickly answered. She was curled up in a ball on the bed, coughing hard enough her entire body was in a spasm. Even in the dim light Jared could see how pale and drenched in sweat she was. Her clothes hung off her in a way they were definitely not meant to. Clint was sitting on the bed next to her, glass of water in hand, murmuring in Russian trying to get her to drink it. She was shaking her head while still coughing.

"Fuck," the curse slipped out of Jared's mouth, staring at the scene in front of him. This wasn't what he was expecting at all. "What happened?"

"She fell through a frozen pond, it was a long hike back here," Clint's voice was tight with worry. "She's had a fever for 4 days straight now and I don't have anything here to help. We got snowed in right afterwards and our communications got cut right after that before I could radio the entire situation in."

Jared looked over to Romanoff feeling very uneasy. She looked like she needed a hospital, not to be stuck here in the middle of nowhere with no medical attention.

"I can take her…" Jared began but was quickly cut off by a shake of Clint's head.

"She doesn't do hospitals very well," Clint loathed handing that small piece of personal information out. He sent a hard glare in Jared's direction to make sure he understood that was never to be repeated. Jared snapped his mouth shut and gave him a small nod.

"Can you…" Clint started but then trailed off himself. He looked up to Jared feeling uneasy about the question he was about to ask. "I have no idea how you do it, but are you able to go get what I need?"

Normally Jared would be pissed about playing errand boy. But this was a different scenario.

"What do you need?" Jared asked straight away.

"I have somewhere in DC that I can get medical supplies," Clint's uneasiness settled into a deep frown. "But this is completely off SHIELD records. I'm not lying that if you ever breath a word of this to anyone that your body won't ever be able to be found. Understand?"

Jared nodded vigorously. He didn't need to be told twice. Whatever Barton was trusting with him right now he would take to the grave. He'd much rather a grave of his own time and choosing than to never be found again.

"What do you need to get there safely?" Clint's hard frown levelled off into a controlled glare.

"A recent photo, make sure nothing has changed since then," Jared felt like a broken record repeating that piece of information again. "And a list of medical supplies you need."

"Just describe her symptoms," Clint said unhelpfully. "There'll be a contact at this safehouse. Tell her the password is Edith so you don't end up with a hole in your kneecap."

"Edith, got it," Jared nodded. "What's the safe house keepers name?"

"Laura," Clint said softly. A flicker of gentle emotion crossed his face. It was so quick Jared nearly didn't catch it in the dim room. "I'll get my phone. Stay here beside Nat."

Clint didn't give him a choice in the matter. He got up from the crouching position beside the bed and marched from the room. With an amount of dread and apprehension, Jared came to stand beside the bed of the famous Black Widow. She'd fallen back unconscious, her body twitching in the fevered dream. Jared crouched down beside the bed, in the same position Clint had been a few seconds ago. He tentatively reached out to touch her sweating forehead. Instantly he recoiled at how hot she really was. His hand felt like it was almost scalded from the brief touch.

"Your hands are cold Barton," Natasha's voice slipped out in no more than a forced whisper. Her eyes were still closed and body slumped. "Give them here."

Jared froze as Natasha reached out in her fevered state and grabbed his hands. She pressed it against her face, sighing in obvious relief. She then frowned, eyelashes fluttering as her eyes sluggishly opened. Green eyes took a few moments to focus on Jared's face.

"You're too pretty to be Barton," Natasha sighed and closed her eyes again. "Much nicer sight. Don't go."

"I won't," Jared's voice came out a lot stronger than he was really feeling. Seeing the cold hearted assassin in such a vulnerable state made him uneasy. His hands warmed up on her hot skin far too quickly to be of any use in cooling her down. He didn't dare move his hands even if Natasha had obviously slipped back into her fevered state.

"Here," Clint's voice came from behind making Jared jump. He instantly snatched his hand off Natasha and took the offered phone from Clint's hands in one swift motion. He looked down at the screen taking in the detail.

It was a bedroom. One that was obviously in the process of being renovated. Furniture was stacked in the corner with a sheet thrown over it. Different coloured stripes of paint littered the white walls. Polished floorboards shone in the morning light from when the photo was taken. Jared looked at the photo curiously. No safe house he'd ever been in looked that well loved.

"Anything else you need?" Jared didn't probe into any other details. It wasn't his place to ask, nor would Barton tell him any intimate details of his very carefully guarded safe house.

"Just get back here with was Nat needs," Clint suddenly looked exhausted, like all the adrenaline keeping him going had finally faded. "Once you get to the room, go into the hall and knock the S.O.S morse code out on the door 3rd to your left. Its at the end of the hall."

"I'll be back soon," Jared promised as he handed the phone back. He focused everything he could into that one picture and let his power take over. In another second he was standing in another dark room, staring at the wall where the stripes of paint were still there. Nothing had changed in the room from when the photo was taken. The streetlamp outside lit the room up brightly enough without any curtains over the window. Jared took a step forward, the floorboards creaking under his feet. He winced at the loud sound that seemed to echo through the quiet house. He paused, listening for any other sign of life. The house was quiet. It was early morning in DC, so not even the noise of the neighbourhood was present. There was just Jared and his own steady breathing to meet his ears.

Jared strode forward to the door. Without any hesitation he flung it open and walked straight into another person. He managed to contain his own yelp of alarm at the face full of brown hair flying in his vision. The feminine shriek echoed around the empty house as the body nearly crumpled to the floor. Jared flung himself forward and caught the woman before she could hit the ground.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Jared said quickly. "The password is Edith. Agent Barton sent me. I'm Agent Jared Lyngley Ma'am and I'm very sorry for startling you."

"How the fuck did you get in my house?" the woman's voice was high and shrill. She shoved Jared away with a lot more force than her petite frame gave away. Jared took a few surprised steps back and got a good look at the safe house keeper.

The first thing he noticed was within that petite frame and long brown hair was a very pregnant stomach in the way of everything. Jared tried not to gape or blurt out anything inappropriate. His first thought that ran through his head was wondering if Coulson knew Barton had knocked up the safe house keeper. Judging by the look on Clint's face when he told Jared her name, he didn't doubt there was something going on between them. For once in his life Jared kept his thoughts to himself and mouth firmly shut of any sass.

"I'm sorry, Laura was it?" Jared took another few steps backwards into the room where he'd appeared. "I can't explain too much unless I know your clearance level."

The look levelled at Jared was enough to make him want to cower in shame. It was the same look his own Mother gave him when he'd done something to really displease her. Laura's hands flew onto her hips as she glared up at Jared.

"Do I look like I have a SHIELD security clearance Agent Lyngley?" the small woman seethed at him. Jared was smart enough to know a rhetorical question when one was thrown at him. "You have 5 seconds to explain yourself before I call Phil and have you…."

"Natasha needs help," Jared let the words tumble out cutting Laura off. "Barton sent me here because he said I could come back with medical supplies. She's really sick and I need your help."

At the mention of Natasha's name, Laura's glare levelled off and was quickly replaced by an uneasy look on her face.

"What happened?" Laura asked briskly. The uneasy look was replaced by one of professional calmness.

"Fell into a pond 4 days ago," Jared supplied. "Running a very high temperature, by a quick feel my guess would be at least 103. She has a rattling cough and difficulty breathing."

"Follow me," Laura was all business now. She stepped off without a look thrown back to check if Jared was following. His own long legs quickly caught up with the shorter woman as she waddled away looking very uncomfortable. Laura's hands went to her back as she gingerly climbed down the stairs. Jared always stayed 2 steps backwards, keeping his distance feeling very unsure of how to take everything in. Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Laura turned to face him and pointed towards the right.

"Kitchen is in there, sit and don't touch anything," Laura said firmly leaving no room for arguments.

"Yes Ma'am," Jared found himself replying without any thought process happening at all. He quickly walked to the room where he was directed and pulled a chair out from the table in the middle of the room. He wasn't even game enough to turn a light on, so he sat in the dimness of the room waiting for Laura to come back.

She didn't take long. Barely a minute had passed before the light was flicked on and Laura came back into the kitchen carrying a backpack. She set it down on the table before slowly lowering herself into the chair. Jared didn't miss the wince of pain crossing her face as she awkwardly sat on the chair.

"Are you ok?" Jared asked feeling concerned.

"Besides a visitor disturbing what little sleep I get," Laura grumbled as she unzipped the backpack. "Yeah 37 weeks pregnant is a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying my kidneys being used as punching bag."

"It could be worse," Jared tried to inject some humour into the situation. The dead panned expression of non amusement made him hastily spit out the rest of what he was going to say. "It could be twins like my Mom went through."

"One is more than enough, thank you," Laura said dryly. However there was the small quirk of her lips giving away at least the smallest amount of amusement. She rummaged through the bag while Jared sat in silence not sure what else to say. Laura began to lay the supplies out on the table as she pulled things from the bag.

"How old are you Agent Lyngley?" Laura glanced up to Jared briefly from what she was doing.

"20," Jared answered. He was waited for the typical spiel of how young he looked for his age. Thank god for SHIELD and their ways of creating many forms of fake ID. Jared hadn't been shy about using an alias when he wanted to go out drinking. Or he'd just teleport somewhere in the world where his age wasn't an issue.

"And would you be related to the same Agent Lyngley who's head of weapons development?" Laura didn't give the expected spiel. She just continued with the job she had her mind set on right now. Rows of vials and other medical supplies sat in neat rows on the table. The supplies from the backpack seemed to never end.

"My Dad," Jared said carefully. For someone who was a safe house keeper, Laura seemed to know a lot more than she probably should.

"So that's why Clint didn't shoot you on sight," Laura mused with another small quirk of her lips. "He would be a very unhappy man if he couldn't get a new toy."

Jared relaxed slightly at the smallest trace of amusement on his voice. The casual conversation was welcome at this crazy time of the morning as well. Just as he was about to reply a small childish voice came from the dark hallway.

"Mommy?" the young boy stepped into the light rubbing his eyes. "Who's that?"

If Jared thought his night couldn't get any stranger, he was very wrong. This just totally took the cake. Dark haired like his Mother but that's where the similarities ended. Jared couldn't stop staring at the miniaturised version of Barton himself.

"Cooper what are you doing out of bed?" Laura shot a nervous look in Jared's direction.

"Who's that?" Cooper asked. He ignored Laura's question and came toddling over to his Mother. He held up his arms to be picked up.

"I can't pick you up buddy," Laura sighed heavily. "This is Jared, he works with Daddy."

"Is Daddy coming home?" Cooper looked to Jared with a hopeful expression on his little face. Before Jared could answer, Copper walked over towards him and held his arms up.

"Umm," Jared looked down at the boy with a small amount of horror and fear. "He will be home soon. I'm just helping him and Romanoff out."

"Aunty Nat," Cooper wiggled his fingers up at Jared. "Is she coming home too?"

All of a sudden Jared felt the weight of the world come crashing down on his shoulders looking down at the young boy. Like everyone else in SHIELD, he always assumed Barton and Romanoff were a thing. Now that couldn't be any further from the truth. It's no wonder Coulson wanted his team back ASAP. Laura looked ready to burst any second. With a second young child in the house she was about to have her hands very full. Feeling out of place, Jared reached down and picked the boy up. He wrapped his arms around his neck and snuggled into his body. Jared felt his heart melt a little as he hugged him back. Jared didn't mind kids at all. As long as he could hand them back to their parent at the end of the day. What he had just been trusted with was sacred. He hugged Cooper a little tighter. He'd do everything he could in his power to get Barton and Romanoff back.

"Sorry," Laura mouthed quietly to Jared. "He misses his Dad. I'm going to pack all this back in this bag which you can take. Clint will know what to give. There's plenty of IV fluids in here because I know Nat won't drink anything when she's sick."

"Thank you," Jared didn't know what else to say. Cooper had fallen back asleep on his shoulder. He had a sudden idea. "Whats their favourite food?"

"You can't go wrong with anything pasta for either one of them," Laura zipped up the bag and pushed it across the table to Jared. She hesitated before speaking again. "How bad is the trouble they're in this time?"

"No trouble at all now I'm here," Jared's lie was only half of a lie. With his help they should be able to get home within the next few days. Providing nothing went wrong. He picked up the bag with his free hand and slung it over his shoulder.

Laura let out a short laugh at that.

"I think those two have just found a kindred soul," Laura smiled and looked a little more relaxed than before. "So I'm guessing you have some kind of powers."

"I can teleport," Jared always felt a little proud and smug of that fact. It made his job so much easier. He wasn't ashamed to show his powers off either. SHIELD was very happy to let him do so openly as well "It's a bit helpful."

"I can imagine," Laura rubbed her stomach, wincing. "Shouldn't you be heading back?"

"Right," Jared stood up carefully not to disturb the sleeping boy. "Wheres his room?"

"I can get him," Laura insisted. She stood up and as she did she visibly flinched in pain. "On second thoughts, his door is next to the room you came in."

"No problems," Jared stood up, holding the young boy close to him. "Thank you Laura."

"No need to thank me," Laura gave Jared a small smile. "Just bring them home for me, please?"

"Of course."

Jared walked up the stairs and put Cooper back to bed where he was instructed. The brown haired boy didn't stir as Jared tucked him in. With one last look at the precious secret tucked into the bed, Jared closed his eyes and blew out a breath. He focused on one of his favourite places in the world to eat. The time difference should put him there right at the early evening and pick up dinner before he went back.

Clint stilled as he heard a faint noise in the living room. Natasha fever had spiked again and he helplessly sat beside her. The only thing he could do was keep the sweat off her face. Even then the cool cloth wasn't doing much to help.

"Barton?" Jared's voice sounded from the living room.

Clint let out a relieved sigh. He checked his watch, it'd only been 45 minutes yet it'd felt like hours since Jared left. Clint prayed to any god who would listen that Laura wasn't too upset with Jared's sudden appearance. With such a short time left in her pregnancy, Clint didn't want anything upsetting her. He'd been hoping this mission would have wrapped up 2 weeks ago. But bad luck had kept them firmly rooted in this horrible cabin. Clint stood up, stretching as he walked back into the other room. On the table was his trusted go to bag with all the medical supplies. But the rest of the contents on the table was the bigger surprise.

"I didn't know what to get," Jared shrugged as an explanation. "So I basically ordered everything that tastes good. The leftovers can get thrown in the fridge."

An Italian feast was spread out across the table. Clint's mouth watered at the smell wafting up to him. Their supplies had run out to nearly nothing a few days before. All that was left was the stuff they hadn't eaten in the MRE's. Which was basically nothing but condiments and the odd piece of candy.

Medical supplies momentarily forgotten, Clint snatched up a still hot garlic calzone and stuffed it in his mouth. The dough burst in Clint's mouth, burning his tongue on the still bubbling cheese, but he didn't care. It was real food and hot. What made it better, was that is was really, really good real food. Clint savoured the taste of fresh bread, pecorino cheese and the burst of salt and garlic that came with it.

"My god this is amazing," Clint said around the mouthful of food. "Where the hell in DC did you get it?"

"Please, as if you'd get that in DC," Jared scoffed. "That came all the way from Rome. You're welcome by the way."

Clint paused for a second mid chew at the snark in Jared's tone. He hid the smile that was threatening to form by shoving the second half of the calzone into his mouth. The sass coming from the young blond man in front of him could have easily been Natasha's words. He'd heard plenty about the Specialist flying through the ranks. How he wasn't afraid of any job that came his way. His skills were as good as any of the top Specialists in the agency. Having people like Bobbi Morse and Melinda May speak highly of his abilities wasn't an easy task for anyone to accomplish. His smart mouth might not make him many friends. But his ability to get any job done under any circumstances earned him enough respect that no one dared to say a bad word about him. At first Clint had thought it was only his last name getting him through the ranks so easily. But Jared had proven himself time and time again that he was going to be as good as Romanoff one day. It might not be today, or tomorrow. But he'd be a worthy ally in the long run.

"I'll go pump Tasha full of drugs," Clint grabbed the medical bag. He took a few steps towards the bedroom door before a question popped into his mind. That question made him falter in his footsteps. He glanced over his shoulder to Jared, who was absently picking apart another calzone while reading something on his phone.

"She's fine," Jared said not looking up from the device in his hands. "Though I did wonder how the hell I was going to tell Coulson you knocked up the safe house keeper. Thankfully your son walked in and it's a pretty safe guess that Coulson already knows."

"Hilarious Lyngley," Clint grumbled rolling his eyes. Possibly ally or not, Jared might be lucky enough to live that long if he kept his snark up. Still, Clint was very glad for his honest words and the reassurance his very pregnant wife was fine. Jared came back minus any holes in his body so whatever he'd said to Laura must have been good enough for her to trust him. Clint felt a sudden stab of homesickness thinking of what was waiting back at home for him. He'd give anything to be home right now doing something mundane, like paint the nursery. Or be able to curl up with his head on his wife's pregnant stomach. Listening to his little girls heartbeat and feeling her move around.

"But I will do everything I can to get you home to your pregnant partner," Jared looked up from the phone briefly with a small smile. "And take this secret to my grave. She looks ready to pop."

"Wife," Clint corrected. It was a smug sense of satisfaction seeing Jared nearly fall off the chair in surprise. Leaving him to chew over that thought in his head, Clint walked into the bedroom. Natasha was still curled up in a ball hugging a pillow to her chest tightly. Clint sighed heavily and sat the bag on the floor. Natasha wasn't going to like this.

20 minutes later Clint walked out to the table where Jared was now absently eating through a takeaway container of pasta. He didn't even glance up from his phone when Clint sat down and pulled the first containers over to him. Lifting the lid off Clint greedily inhaled the aromas of various herbs assaulting his nose. The creamy white sauce looked inviting and he quickly snatched a fork up and shovelled as much into his mouth as possible. The pasta was still warm and the carbonara sauce felt like it was the best thing he'd ever eaten.

The pair of them sat in silence. Jared still on his phone, occasionally wrinkling his nose at whatever he was doing. Clint got sick of the silence and finally spoke up after a few minutes.

"There's no phone reception here at all," Clint informed him. "Believe me, I've tried."

"Yeah I know," Jared lifted one shoulder in a half hearted shrug. "I downloaded all my latest emails while I was waiting for this. Mom and Kari have both written novels."

"Who's Kari?" Clint asked mildly curious. He didn't pick Jared for the type to be settled down with a girlfriend. Quite the ladies man and not one to be pinned down by anyone. If you listened to the rumours what swirled around SHIELD.

"My twin sister," Jared gave a small smile. His attention dragged back down to the lengthy email.

"She still at the Academy?" Clint racked his brain trying to think of what the other Lyngley sibling was doing in SHIELD. Granted, there were plenty of Lyngley's within SHIELD. It was easy to lose track of most of them. Especially since none of them were directly involved in the Enforcement side of SHIELD except for Jared. But Clint remembered Coulson vaguely mentioning something about Jared's sister about 2 years ago. He couldn't for the life of him remember what for though.

"God no," Jared laughed finally pulling his attention away from his phone. "She hates SHIELD. Never wanted anything to do with it. She's nearly finished her fighter pilot training. She's been assigned to the 1st Fighter Wing at Langley Air Base. She's going to the first female F-22 pilot."

Clint's eyebrows raised in surprise. It seemed Jared wasn't the only overachiever in the family. After a moment of silence Jared turned his attention back to the email. Clint shovelled a few mouthfuls of pasta into his mouth before he spoke again.

"Is she like you?" Clint asked.

"Pardon?" Jared looked up again.

"Your twin sister, does she have powers like you?" Clint elaborated.

"Yeah but unlike me she doesn't like using them. Hence the reason she went for USAF and not SHIELD," Jared finally put his phone up on the table. "So, tell me about what we're dealing with here."

"Is that food I smell?" a feminine voice made both the men's head snap to where the noise had come from. Natasha wearily walked out of the bedroom, wrapped up in one of Clint's hoodies. She stopped dead in her tracks, now staring at Jared. "And whats that smart ass little shit doing here?"

"He's our backup," Clint explained. He pulled out the chair next to him and patted the seat. "Thanks for leaving your drip in for more than 5 minutes."

"Is that pasta?" Natasha inched closer to the table. She sniffed the air and completely ignored Clint's comment about her IV line. She'd ripped it out the second she was conscious enough to realise it was in there. "How did we get pasta?"

"It's from L'Arcangelo straight from Rome," Jared added with what he hoped was going to be a charming smile to hide his inner turmoil at the infamous Black Widow staring at him. "I hear the Gnocchi alla Matriciana is to die for."

As he spoke Jared pushed one of the containers over towards her. Natasha inched towards the table tentatively, eyeing off the white container like it was going to bite her.

"The real L'Arcangelo as in the one in Italy?" Natasha grabbed the chair and hastily sat down in it. Even though she was up and moving, she still wasn't looking the best. But the amount of drugs Barton just pumped into her was doing wonders for getting her up and moving again.

"The one and only," Jared's smile grew wider. On the inside he felt a small sliver of relief. Opposite him Clint had his hand covered over his mouth to hide his own amusement. Clint knew from experience that Natasha couldn't resist good Italian. The fact they'd been living off MRE's for the last few weeks would only make her even happier for the proper food.

Natasha snatched the container and a fork that was sitting near her. Opening the lid she didn't bother to wait to inhale the delicious scent. She dug her fork straight into the soft pillows of potato coated in a light tomato sauce with strips of guanciale and Pecorino Romano.

"Real food," Natasha moaned in delight as she chewed around the mouthful. "You're a lifesaver. Thanks for the food and drugs."

Jared stared at Natasha not sure if he'd just correctly heard what was coming out of her mouth. From what he knew of her reputation she as a hard ass bitch who didn't like anyone or anything.

"Don't get used to it," Clint quickly cut in, seeing Jared's expression. "She'll be back to wanting to beat you senseless once the drugs wear off. Lets go over the intel we have so we can try and get out of here ASAP."

* * *

"So I just hold your hand and we'll be back in DC?" Natasha arched a questioning eyebrow at Jared. He fought back his sigh of irritation as he stared down at the assassin.

"Yeah, straight outside of Fury's office at the Triskelion," Jared assured her. "I promise you, it doesn't hurt. You don't feel anything."

A few days later their mission had ended in a complete success. With Natasha and Clint's careful surveillance, it'd been a walk in the park for Jared to get in and secure the building. A SHIELD clean up and forensic crew were already on their way back. Instead of waiting for a Quinjet to take them back, Jared offered to teleport both Clint and Natasha straight back to DC. Clint hadn't hesitated in his acceptance. However Natasha was being the more difficult one.

"Come on Tasha," Clint grumbled from behind her. "I really want to get home."

"Fine," Natasha reached her hand out towards Jared. He smiled and reached out to take it. At the last second, Natasha pulled back with an insane little smirk. "Take me to Barton's instead."

"Fine," Jared reached forward and used his height to his advantage. He grabbed Natasha's hand and without a second of hesitation teleported away. The next moment they were standing in the spare room Jared had originally arrived in. Natasha swayed on her feet for a second, before looking around in amazement. She was so surprised by how easy that had just been. Hundreds of miles of travel over in an instant. No wonder Jared like to do it all the time.

"Does this mean you can get me gnocchi from L'Arcangelo anytime I want it?" Natasha fiery green eyes finally landed back on Jared. Her smile was warm and genuine. Something she would only reserve for people she liked. Despite her initial reservation with the young Specialist, Natasha had grown fond of him over the last few days. His quick wit and sharp tongue were a refreshing change from those who were always too scared to speak around her. Further more, he nearly single handedly took down the building they'd been trying to get into for weeks. Without him, both her and Clint would still be stuck in that frozen cabin trying to figure out what the hell to do.

"As long as you provide to proper wine to go with it," Jared flashed her a quick smile. "Be right back."

Before Natasha could reply he was gone. Natasha strode across the nursery and flung open the door. It was mid morning in DC. Laura and Cooper should both be here somewhere.

"Honey I'm home," Natasha called out the standard greeting as she poked her head out the door.

"Natasha?" a pained voice came from the bathroom. Laura head appeared from around the door a second later. "Oh thank god you're back."

"Whats up?" Natasha rushed to the bathroom, opening the door a little wider. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the soaked nightgown from the waist down. Laura was sweating heavily and a little wide eyed herself. "Oh. Shit."

"Shit all right," Laura grimaced and bent over in pain. Her fingers gripped the frame of the door so hard her knuckles turned white. "Where's Clint?"

A thump could be heard down the hallway. Both of the women turned to look in the direction of the unfinished nursery. Two deep voices came a second later. One sounding in awe and the other laughing quietly.

"CLINT!" Natasha screeched. "Get your ass into the bathroom right NOW!"

Loud footsteps came thumping down the hallway. Clint froze a few steps from the doorway, making Jared run right into his back. Both of them stared in slight horror and completely froze on the spot.

"Hospital. Now." Laura said through gritted teeth. "Unless you want our little girl to be born in the bathroom."

"Now?" Clint's voice became unnaturally high pitched as he stared at his wife.

"Now," Laura nodded in confirmation. She looked over at Jared who was standing there opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. "You better come too. I suppose you'll come in handy if I've forgotten to pack something."

"Me?" Jared pointed to himself suddenly feeling very out of place.

"Yes you," Laura rolled her eyes. "We need to go, like right now."

Jared found himself standing in the hospital room 9 hours later, exhausted but smiling down at the precious bundle of blankets and baby he held in his arms. Lila Alianovna Barton. A head full of dark hair like her mother but piercing blue eyes just like her Dad. Holding the tiny baby in his arms brought a fierce protectiveness Jared had only felt with his sister before. In the room next door, Laura was fast asleep. Natasha was sitting guard beside her, dozing off in the chair with Cooper asleep in her lap. Clint had been speaking with Coulson in the hallway so Jared took his chance for another hold of the little girl. He wasn't ashamed to admit he was completely smitten.

"Hey," Clint's quiet voice made him look up from Lila. Clint quietly closed the door behind him and strode over to the pair.

"Hey," Jared gave Clint a slightly lopsided smile. "She's beautiful. Congratulations Barton."

"Thanks," Clint's smile hadn't left his face she his little girl had come screaming into the world an hour before. "And thank you for getting us back here in time. If it wasn't for you we would have missed this."

"It's nothing," Jared felt proud and embarrassed at the same time from Clint's praise.

"Nothing," Clint chuckled briefly. "Yeah we'll go with that. So Thursday nights are pizza night at my place. We take turns in bringing the beer. It's your turn this week."

"What beer does everyone drink?" Jared wasn't going to knock back that offer. His own smile stretched onto his face as he suddenly realised he was just accepted into something very special.

 **Authors Note**

 **I've been mucking around with this one for ages! I hope everyone enjoyed the story behind how Jared actually got to know Natasha and Clint.**

 **This takes place about 3 years before Crystallize starts.**


	5. Chapter 5

**This one shot is for Cotton Blossom Diva. I hope it lives up to your expectations!**

* * *

Riley felt his eyes flutter open, despite his best efforts to stay asleep. His entire body ached in the deep set fatigue he was feeling. It'd been a long week, despite the lack of missions and he wanted nothing more than to stay asleep until well into the day. The brief glance at the clock showed it to be 0630. Far too early to be awake on a Saturday. The body beside him shifted in her sleep, mumbling something incoherent. Riley smiled sleepily, pulling Kari back into his body. She sighed contently, burrowing herself into Riley as close as she could.

"What time is it?" Kari asked, not opening her eyes.

"Early." Riley pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Go back to sleep."

With a small hum of acknowledgement, Kari's breathing evened out and she asleep within seconds. Riley chuckled, kissing her forehead again gently. By all accounts she'd had a big week as well. The bruises from Natasha and 2030 bedtimes had been evidence of that. Riley had been surprised when she'd stayed awake long enough to have dinner with Natasha and Laura last night. Though coming home at 2145 was hardly a wild girls night out like they claimed it was going to be.

Riley reached over to the bedside table and blindly fumbled for his phone. There was no going back to sleep for him. But he didn't want to disturb Kari's sleep. Or the chance to stay in bed and do nothing but cuddle for a little while. Having Kari curled up against his side, head on his chest, her leg thrown casually over his, was comfortable and warm. Riley manoeuvred his arm so he could flick through his phone, but not disturb his sleeping girlfriend while he did it.

Before unlocking his phone, Riley couldn't resist sneaking another kiss in, this time on her lips. Kari's mouth curled up in a smile, but otherwise didn't stir. Riley lay there, forehead pressed against hers, enjoying the quiet of the moment. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell that was just her. The lingering scent of her vanilla and exotic smelling spices in her favourite shampoo mixed with the body lotion she used. Her favourite cherry blossom perfume was there as well this morning. It wasn't until then he realised he'd missed the smell of that perfume. Kari only wore it when they went out. With work being so busy, it had felt like too long that they'd done something as a couple. Maybe he should buy her some new perfume and take her out somewhere nice. They hadn't had a date night in what seemed like months.

Riley pulled away enough to be able to see his phone, turning the device to make sure it was on silent before unlocking the screen. There was the usual shit there that accumulated overnight. A few text messages from various people. A few of the Bravo guys had gone out for drinks, Sam included, as evident by the mass of texts he'd sent. Riley smiled, keeping the laughter to himself as he scrolled through the progressively more and more drunk texts from Sam. Riley had to bite the inside of his cheek hard to stop himself from bursting out laughing at the last one that came through.

I miss you man, but fuck if I had a girlfriend as hot as yours I'd stay home fucking her all night too.

"Asshole," Riley murmured affectionally as he closed the message. He'd reply to it later. Sam wouldn't be up for hours. The last text had been sent a bit after 2am. No doubt his best friend would be nursing a hangover for most of the weekend now. He felt a small twinge of guilt though. He really hadn't been that sociable with his friends lately. He cherished the quiet nights at home with Kari more than going out. Even if they were only sitting on the couch, curled up together watching a movie with pizza and beer.

There were a few other texts, but only one personal. That one from his mom reminding Riley to ring his sister for her birthday on Monday. Riley rolled hie eyes reading that text. He'd already put the reminder in his phone after forgetting about it last year. Tessa had never let him hear the end of it since. This year he'd remembered to send her a gift along with the reminder to call on the day. The rest of the texts were just work reminders. Riley grumbled in his head at the reminder to do his last lot of mission paperwork. Why SHIELD felt the need to make every single agent on the team write a mission report was beyond him. It was about the only thing he missed about the Navy.

In his email box there were the same reminders from SHIELD as the text messages. Riley flicked through and deleted them, along with the usual junk that seemed to accumulate overnight. He was just about to open the latest email from Linda, Kari's mom, when a text message came through from Evans.

 _I hate asking this after a big week, but can you possibly take Alexi for a few hours?_

Riley didn't need to think about it or even ask why. Straight away he was tapping out a reply.

 _Of course. Do you want me to pick her up?_

Riley stared at the screen, patiently waiting for a reply. Abby had looked off colour the other night, but waved it off as a bug going around, probably picked up from someone at Alexi's playgroup. But it didn't really matter what the reason was for. Riley would gladly take Alexi anytime he was asked. His phone lit up as the reply came through.

 _I'll drop her off. Thanks man, I owe you about 95 favours for this. Be there soon._

Riley chuckled quietly as he locked his phone and put it back on the bedside table. He knew he should get up and put something for breakfast on, but the warmth of the bed and naked body next to him was far too tempting to leave right away. He'd have about 30 minutes before Evans got here. More than enough time to enjoy some extra cuddles before making breakfast.

He pulled Kari in closer to his body, holding her tightly before burying his nose into her hair. She didn't stir in her sleep, except for a small sigh of contentment. It was moments like these that Riley cherished the most. It wasn't the mind blowing sex, or the thrill of seeing Kari do something incredible or crazy at work. It was just the simple things like enjoying her lying next to him every morning. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten so lucky to find someone like her. The sheer luck of him being on medical leave and doing PT in the mornings out of boredom had really worked in his favour. It'd been worth getting shot in the arm to be able to hold her like this.

Riley gently traced his fingers down Kari's back. He could feel goosebumps rise in wake of his touch. Underneath his fingertips he could feel the hard muscles of her body. She was starting to get some really defined muscling. It didn't add any bulk to her slender frame, much to her disgust, but she had a lithe and deadly look about her instead. No man alive would complain about the extra flexibility that was coming from her sessions with Natasha. No one was privy to what the girls got up to by themselves in those morning sessions, but Riley thanked Natasha mentally, a lot, these days.

"Your lips can finish what your fingers started," Kari's quiet murmur broke Riley from his thoughts. He smiled down at her still form. He hadn't noticed her subtle shift in breathing to see she was awake.

"We need to stop watching so many movies," Riley chuckled as he gently traced the path he'd just taken along her skin back up. "I would, but Evans is going to drop Alexi off soon. I'll never hear the end of it if he actually walks in on us having sex."

"Cock blocked again," Kari chuckled as well. She slowly opened her eyes, stretching out as much as she could still curled up to Riley. "I'm going to have a shower then. You gonna make me breakfast, wench?"

"Wench?" Riley forced a heavy frown onto his face. It was hard to keep it though. Especially with Kari looking up at him with mischief written all over her face. "I'll show you who's the wench."

Riley quickly rolled over, pinning Kari underneath him. She broke into hysterical giggles as he secured her hands above her head with his just one of his hands. She wriggled underneath him, nowhere near enough to get free. She was giggling far too much to do anything.

"Are you going to take it back?" Riley found himself smiling down at his wiggling girlfriend. She could easily get out of his hold, if she stopped giggling for a few seconds. Kari shook her head rapidly, her giggles finally dying down.

"Nope, pancakes and bacon, wench," Kari's giggles turned into hysterical shrieks. As soon as she'd called Riley wench again, his free hand came down and dug his fingers into her ribs. It was the only spot on her body that was ticklish. The effect was instant. Kari shrieked and squirmed underneath him, gasping for breath between the racket she was making.

"Give up?" Riley asked, stopping for a few seconds.

"N…" Kari's reply was cut off by Riley reaching down and tickling her again.

In-between her shrieking and giggles, she managed to wrap her legs around Riley's hips, dragging his body down flush with hers. It was the perfect distraction. Riley's tickling stopped straight away at the feel of their naked bodies pushed together. Damn she was good sometimes. Riley fought back a smile at her sneaky move. He could easily see He bent down and kissed her instead.

Riley felt a rush of love for the woman underneath him as their lips met. It was nothing more than a chaste brush of the lips. But it was enough to make his entire body tingle and heart pound. Riley wasn't ashamed to admit he was completely addicted to the feelings he got anytime they touched. Before he met Kari it was like his entire life had been in black and white. One touch from her and everything came to life with colour. He didn't want to ever go back to black and white.

"I love you," Riley murmured as they broke apart. His hand holding her wrists came down to gently cup her cheek, running his thumb over her soft skin.

"I love you too." Kari's soft smile made him go weak at the knees. "So much."

Riley lent forward and kissed her again. This time it wasn't so chaste. Kari's arms wrapped around him, pulling him even closer into her. Her legs tightened around Riley's hips, making his body stir in other ways than before.

"Tease." Riley broke away from her before they got too carried away. He pulled back so he was hovering a few inches above her. Kari looked far too tempting underneath him with her bed messed hair and bright smile. "I thought you were going for a shower?"

"I was," Kari sighed in an over exaggerated fashion. She unwrapped her legs from his body. "But there's this gorgeous man in the bed who is so distracting I forgot something really important."

Riley cocked an eyebrow at Kari. He could feel the corner of his lips twitching as he tried not to smile. By the mischievous glint in her eye, she was about to say something that could potentially get her tickled again. Or they were about to have a quick tumble around in bed. Either way, Riley wasn't going to complain.

Kari pulled Riley back down towards her. Her lips were barely a hair width away from his.

"Don't forget the coffee, wench," Kari breathed against his lips. A second later, a stinging slap was delivered to Riley's bare ass.

Riley's head fell to Kari's shoulder, his entire body shaking in laughter. Only Kari could come out with something like that. Its why he loved her so much.

"Yes Ma'am." Riley got his laughter under control a few seconds later. He gave Kari a quick kiss, this time making sure it stayed chaste, before climbing out of bed. Pulling on a pair of sweatpants, Riley made a quick trip to the bathroom before going into the kitchen to start breakfast. Alexi would want something as well when she got here, whether Evans had given her breakfast or not.

It didn't take Riley long to have a pot of coffee ready and the first pancake in the frying pan. Riley knew he wasn't the best cook in the world. But he could make seriously good pancakes from scratch. Kari ducked out of the bedroom long enough to give him a kiss and drain a cup of coffee before disappearing into the bathroom. Just as Riley finished the pancakes, there was a knock on the door.

"Its open," Riley called out. A second later a very tired look Troy Evans walked into the apartment with Alexi in his arms. Alexi looked teary and red faced, meaning she'd cried the entire 25 minute trip over here.

"Hey baby girl," Riley crooned, abandoning breakfast in favour for his teary god daughter. "I missed you, come here."

Riley held his hands out for Alexi, who instantly obliged, nearly falling out of Evans arms in doing so. Riley's reflexes saved her from a trip to the ground as he pulled her onto his arms. Alexi put her head on his shoulder, sticking her thumb in her mouth.

"Coffee?" Riley asked, already knowing the answer. He went back into the kitchen, shifting Alexi so she was more comfortable on his hip. Her eyelids were drooping already, a sure sign she'd been up most of the night. He'd done this a million times and had no problems juggling Alexi while making coffee.

"You are my lifesaver," Evans said, the relief clear on his face. "Please, by the gallon or IV drip preferably. Abby is sick and she could barely leave the toilet, let alone deal with Alexi when she woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep."

"She will sleep through the night one of these days," Riley tried to reassure Evans. All he got was a disbelieving look. Riley chuckled quietly before sliding a now full coffee cup over to his STRIKE leader. "Whats wrong with Abby?"

"No idea," Evans shrugged. He was silent while he took a long drink from the cup. It was a good thing Evans liked his coffee just like Riley. Strong enough to strip paint. He looked like he desperately needed it. "I'm taking her to the doctor, but I couldn't get an appointment until this afternoon. She's exhausted from being sick and hearing Alexi fuss since about 1 this morning. I just want her to get some sleep and feel better."

"Go home and get some sleep yourself," Riley said lightly. "I've got little Madam, take all the time you need. Her cot is set up in the spare room if you guys even just want a night to yourselves."

"I'd love to tease you about this being a taste of parenthood, but she behaves better for you than she does for me," Evans chuckled, draining the last of his coffee in one swallow. "If you change your mind, I'll come and get her. Don't feel pressured…"

"Troy, I will smack you across the face if you finish that sentence," Riley cut him off. "Go home, sleep and spend some time with your wife, just the two of you. When was the last time that happened?"

The silence filled the room for a good 30 seconds while Evans considered the answer.

"Yeah, next question?" Evans heaved a sigh when he finally did answer. "Fine. Have fun with my daughter. I'll see you tomorrow. Ri…."

"Yes, I will ring if I need anything," Riley cut him off again. He made a shooing motion towards the door. "Go."

"Bye Munchkin." Evans knew better than to try and take Alexi from Riley, even for a good bye hug. Instead he bopped her on the nose, earning a smile from his daughter. She waved her little fist at him as he headed out the door, babbling something quietly. The front door just clicked shut as Kari walked out of the bathroom dressed in sweatpants and one of Riley's old Navy shirts. As soon as Alexi saw Kari, it was like the sun coming out after a thunderstorm. She was instantly wide awake, smiling and waving her arms like crazy to get Kari's attention.

"Hey little monster," Kari grinned, swooping in and pulling Alexi off Riley's hip. She hugged the little girl gently, twirling the both of them around the room. 'Riley's making pancakes, you want some pancakes?"

Riley felt his heart melt at the sight of Kari twirling around the room with Alexi. It was enough to make him want to pull her into the bedroom and start trying for their own family. He'd give up everything he had, just to have a family with Kari. He couldn't think of anything that would make him happier. But he also didn't to push Kari. Riley knew if he pushed too hard that she'd pull right away from his grasp and he'd never stand a chance at getting her back. So he'd be patient and wait until he was sure she was ready. He didn't care if it took 6 months or 6 years. Kari was worth the wait.

It still didn't stop him day dreaming about a little girl with blonde hair and green eyes. Or a boy with brown hair and those amazing sapphire blue eyes that Kari had. Riley sighed quietly in happy contentment. No, he knew he could wait. Things were too perfect to spoil right now all because he was feeling clucky. He turned back to the kitchen to finish frying the bacon to go with breakfast.

After Kari and Alexi finished dancing around the living room and the bacon was cooked, they all sat down for breakfast. As Riley predicted, Alexi definitely wanted pancakes. Kari awesome idea of Hershey's Hot Fudge sauce onto hers and Alexi's pancakes made a huge chocolate mess all over the table by the end of breakfast. But the laughter that rang out across the apartment was worth the clean up. He sent the girls into the bathroom while he cleaned up the mess from breakfast. Riley had just finished cleaning up the majority of it when Kari's voice called out to him from the bathroom.

"Barton said he's taking his kids to the park, wanna go with?"

"Sure," Riley called back, throwing the last plate in the dishwasher. The forecast was for more snow over the weekend. Right now it was cold with a good dusting of snow on the ground, but not too feral to be outside. A day at the park sounded like bliss after a busy week at work.

"Okay," Kari's voice sounded hesitant. "How the hell do I dress Alexi for this weather?"

Riley kept his laughter to himself as he closed the dishwasher. Give his girlfriend a mile long sniper shot and she wouldn't break a sweat. A one year needing to be dressed for outside weather sounded like it was going to be a Level 1 SHIELD situation if he didn't go help. He walked into the bathroom, finding Kari holding up 2 snow jackets to Alexi with a look of panic across her face.

"Layers first," Riley smiled at the scene in front of him. Alexi was sitting up on the bathroom sink, her head tilted looking at Kari quizzically. At the sound of Riley's voice, her head snapped around to see him, a huge grin appearing on her face. She bounced excitedly, babbling in her own little language at Riley. He couldn't help but to grin at her. Alexi was adorable when she was excited or happy.

"I didn't want her to be too cold or hot," Kari said, looking a little embarrassed. "You know me, I bundle up because I have no body fat to keep me warm."

"She'll strip herself off if she's feeling too warm," Riley pointed out gently, as to not hurt Kari's feelings. She'd asked a serious question and was only trying to do the right thing. "Or she'll attach herself to you if she's cold. We'll just take her clothes bag anyway, so if we have to she can add or subtract layers."

"I'm glad someone has this whole parenting thing worked out," Kari chuckled while shaking her head. "I looked into that clothes bag and saw an entire department store. It freaked me out a little bit."

Riley didn't need to look into the bag to see if it was true. He'd contributed more than his fair share of wardrobe presents for Alexi. Evans always packed her bag like they were going away for a month.

"No, I'm just from the mid west and know what real cold weather is," Riley teased to relieve her tension, earning himself a massive eye roll from Kari.

"Yeah you and Hawk are just regular country boys from the mid west," Kari drawled, her lips twitching to try and hide the smile on her face. "Because it doesn't get cold in New York at all. Or Nebraska."

"My mid western country boy charm can get me a long way," Riley grinned. It was the exact grin he used when he wanted something. Natasha and Kari both called it his panty dropping grin. He didn't argue about that description. Because it mostly had that exact effect on Kari. "Why don't you get dressed and I'll get Alexi ready? Where are we going?"

"The park near the cafe we stop at in the mornings," Kari explained, dropping a quick kiss onto Riley's lips. "As much as I enjoy you strutting around bare chested, you might want to get dressed as well."

"You love my bare chest." Riley's grin grew wider. He pulled Kari in close, enjoying the faint pink colour spreading across her cheeks. That usually meant she was currently having some naughty thoughts. Riley snuck in another kiss, before gently pushing Kari away. "Go, get dressed before I strip your clothes off and we go nowhere."

"Yeah that'd great, corrupt Alexi while she's young," Kari teased. But she did as she was told, sauntering out of the bathroom wiggling her ass as she went. Riley knew she was doing it on purpose, but couldn't help staring until she was out of sight. He turned back to Alexi with a happy sigh.

"Right little madam, lets get you ready."

Alexi stuck her tongue out and blew raspberry at Riley. Just when he thought the grin on his face couldn't get any wider, he was proven wrong. The warm feeling of happiness spread throughout his body. This was looking to be a perfect day.

45 minutes later, they were all bundled up and walking in the park. It didn't take them long to find Clint and his 2 children. It was no surprise to see Natasha with them. After a quick hello from Lila and Cooper, they sped off towards the swings with Natasha and Kari in tow. Alexi was clinging onto Kari like a little monkey, looking very shy at the sudden and loud appearance of the 2 older children. Clint and Riley both collapsed onto the park bench that offered them the best view of the surroundings. Some habits couldn't be shaken, even on a peaceful Saturday morning park visit. Clint had even brought coffee with him, which Riley gratefully took.

"Kari looks like a marshmallow," Clint snickered, as he watched his children get on the swings. Kari was patiently trying to coax Alexi into the baby seat one. But Alexi wasn't having any of it as she desperately clung to Kari. Natasha was being no help, standing there laughing at Kari's despondent look.

"I don't know how she can move in so many layers," Riley chuckled. Clint wasn't wrong though. In her big white snow jacket put on top of several layers of clothes underneath, she really did look like a marshmallow. Her pale hair and skin wasn't helping the picture either. Even with the bright blue beanie she had on "She is a pretty marshmallow at least."

"Yes, she is," Clint chuckled with Riley. "Why have you guys got Alexi?"

"Abby has been up sick all night," Riley explained. "Evans asked me to take Alexi so they could both get some sleep and he could take Abby to the doctor."

"Poor thing," Clint's tone was sympathetic. "When Laura gets sick I feel completely helpless, and both my kids were and still are, good sleepers. I can't imaged how Evans would be feeling."

"I've seen him less exhausted after a month long mission." Riley blew through the hole of the lid of his coffee before taking a sip. It was a perfect cup of coffee. He was flattered every single time Clint got him coffee. He always remembered how he had it. It was just another little thing Clint did that made him feel part of this secret life he had. Riley could scarcely believe this was his life now. Sitting on the park bench with the legendary Hawkeye, having a coffee, watching over the Black Widow play with 2 kids on the swings. It was very surreal.

"There are days I'd rather take a mission than deal with one of Lila's epic tantrums." Clint's gaze turned to his youngest, full of affection despite his words. "But I wouldn't trade fatherhood for the world. The good moments far outweigh the bad."

Riley found his own gaze drifting back to Kari. She'd managed to get Alexi into the swing. The young girl was all smiles and giggles now as Kari gently pushed her. It made a now familiar longing come straight back to his mind. People didn't think men got baby fever. But Riley knew he was an exception to that rule. He was so struck with it, especially every time he saw Kari with Alexi. He couldn't even walk past the baby department at a store now without picturing what it'd be like to be buying for his own children.

"Should we be expecting an engagement announcement soon?" Clint's voice broke through Riley's thoughts.

He looked over to the archer in question, trying to smooth his face over into a more neutral expression. It didn't work for Riley. Clint started to laugh at him a second later. Riley found himself laughing along with him not long after. He'd been so busted. There was no denying it.

"Laura says I get this goofy expression on my face when I'm thinking about wanting another baby," Clint explained once their laughter died down. "I'm pretty sure your face then was exactly what mine looks like. So are you going to propose?"

"Not right this very second." Riley shook his head, still smiling. "I'm not going to lie. I have been looking at rings. But I have a rather specific way of how I want things to go. So I'm just trying to patient and wait for all my pieces of the puzzle to be together. It doesn't help when I can't get the idea of a baby out of my head at the moment though."

"And people say men don't get clucky." Clint had a wistful expression on his face as he looked back out towards his own children. "I'm desperate for number 3, but Laura keeps bringing home a scalpel and threatening me with it to keep me in line."

Clint suddenly pressed his lips together, looking like he was trying to stop himself bursting out laughing. Clint cleared his throat loudly and wiped a hand across his face, resting his hand over his mouth. It didn't stop the muted snort of laughter escaping.

"What's so funny?" Riley asked, curiosity burning through him about what that thought that just crossed Clint's mind was.

"Just a funny mental picture," Clint's reply was muffled by his hand. "You and Kari having an argument when she's 9 months pregnant about who gets to take the shot on a mission."

"Oh god," Riley closed his eyes, feeling his own laughter bubble up from his chest. "Barton, I'm really flattered you think I wear the pants in this relationship. As if I'd be allowed to even argue about me taking the shot."

"My mistake, what was I thinking?" Barton uncovered his mouth. He had a shit eating grin plastered over his face. "You're right though. We are suckers for these strong, independent women aren't we?"

"Yes, we are," Riley agreed. Although he would never say it out loud, he was pretty sure Clint didn't wear the pants in his relationship either. Laura was a force to be reckoned with once she had her mind set on something. "And we wouldn't have them any other way."

"No, we really wouldn't." Clint's grin faded down into a soft smile. His face was one of pure adoration as he looked back over to his children. "I wouldn't change a thing."

The conversation turned into comfortable silence as both of the men sat there, drinking their coffee and watching over the group. Riley was perfectly content to sit there and watch them. They'd moved off the swings and onto the playground equipment. Riley thought his heart was going to burst from the adorable sight of Kari and Alexi going down the slide together, both of them red faced from the cold but laughing at the top of their voices.

He couldn't believe how utterly perfect his life was right now. Nothing could ruin this moment.

* * *

 **Authors Note**

 **Gosh, this chapter was so much fun to write. I did have some cute scenes like this filed away in my mind, but since they weren't anything but fillers they never got written down or fleshed out. So I hope everyone enjoys this little scene.**

 **If anyone else has ideas/suggestions for a one shot, or something they'd like to see fleshed out, drop me a line! These one shots are the best cure for writers block. Plus its a lot of fun to delve into the other characters in my story even further.**


	6. Chapter 6

This chapter is for svetlanaabril. I'm sorry it took so long to put it together for you! But I've finally done it. This chapter explains what happened at the range as mentioned in Chapter 54 of Crystallize.

* * *

Sam sat in his car, fiddling with the gearstick while impatiently waiting for a reply to his last text message. The person on the other end didn't disappoint, it only took a few more seconds before the answer came through.

 _La Perla, pink and black lace matching set. You aren't allowed to rip this one off unless you plan on replacing it. It was VERY expensive._

Sam grinned down at the reply from Natasha. The only disappointing thing is that there was no photo attached with the message to see the new lingerie set. The mental image was enough for the moment. Sam's grin only grew wider as another text message came through.

 _You should come out again this weekend to see it._

If anyone had told him a few months ago he'd be sleeping with Natasha Romanoff, he would have driven them to a psych hospital himself. But taking the chance that night at Barton's birthday drinks had definitely won him a lot of favours. The holding her hair while she threw up for 3 days straight from radiation poisoning didn't hurt either. Sam wasn't an idiot, he knew this wasn't going to last. He suspected that when she left for California on her undercover mission it'd be the end of it all. But she'd surprised him by keeping in touch, and even more by suggesting he flew out for the weekend only a week after she left. Which he happily did, and had done so a handful of times since then as well.

 _I'll see what happens tomorrow at work. Gotta go, I'm at Evans place. Talk to you later._

Sam locked his phone and made sure it was on silent before climbing out of the car. As much as he wanted to shout from the rooftops and let everyone know about his very gorgeous fuck buddy, he kept things discreet. He and Natasha had a set of rules they were both very strict on. Having dinner at Evans' place tonight meant no looking at his phone every 5 seconds otherwise someone would start getting nosy.

Some of the team were already here as Sam got out of the car and made his way into the house. It was early yet though. With nothing else to do, Sam decided to come over an hour early to give Evans and Abby a spare pair of hands. They definitely needed all the help they could get a newborn and toddler.

Sam only got 2 steps into the house before a high pitched voice called out his name. A few seconds later, Alexi barrelled into his legs, hugging him tightly.

"Kari with you?" Alexi looked up at him, her eyes wide and hopeful. Sam fought back a sigh at the look on her face. He had no doubt every one who walked through the door had been asked that exact same question already.

"Kari's at work, Munchkin." Sam forced a smile on his face. Alexi liked him well enough most of the time she might not have a meltdown at those words. "I have a hug from her though, all for you."

That was a small lie. Kari was god knows where doing an interrogation with Rumlow. But Sam had no doubt, if she could keep in touch she'd tell someone to hug Alexi for her.

"Yay!" Alexi giggled, holding up her arms so she could be picked up. Sam relaxed, glad the toddler meltdown had been averted for now. He picked her up, delivering the promised hug. Alexi hugged him back, her little arms wrapped around Sam's neck. "Come read to me?"

"Sure." Sam couldn't help but smile at the request. It seems he was going to be Kari's replacement tonight. Not that he minded, Alexi was very cute when she wasn't throwing one of her epic tantrums. "What do you want to read?"

Before Alexi could answer, a knock came on the front door.

"I've got it," Sam called out, having no idea where anyone was.

"Thanks Sam," Abby called back from what sounded like the kitchen. "Do you have my little hell spawned demon child?"

"Yep," Sam called back after a quiet chuckle, turning around to open the front door. "Lets see who this is and then we'll get you a book, Sound good?"

Alexi nodded, bouncing in Sam's arms which made him smile. She was being very cute today. As he opened the door, his smile nearly fell away. It was only by sheer politeness that made him try and keep it on his face. It was Cobb and his girlfriend on the other side of the door.

"Hi," Sam forced out, squashing down the urge to punch the younger marksman in the face. Cobb had been grating on his nerves more than usual over the last few weeks. Now he'd settled into the team, he'd grown cockier and his ego was getting out of control. Sam wished he knew Barton or Jared well enough to ask them to take the kid down a few pegs. Cobb's ego was going to get someone killed when they went out in the field. Sam did not want to be burying another team mate this year. Evans had made very little progress with trying to get him to settle down. It was to the point where Evans was ready to take it to someone higher up about Cobb's attitude. Sam knew Maria Hill would have a field day with someone like Cobb. Sam hoped it happened sooner rather than later.

"Samuel," Cobb said through gritted teeth, driving Sam's ire up further. No one called him Samuel, except his own mother when Sam was in a lot of trouble. Yet Cobb seemed to take delight in pushing his buttons. "This is my girlfriend, Isabel."

"Hi, nice to meet you," Isabel said, with a warm smile.

She was pretty. Long and immaculately curled dark brown hair, blue eyes accentuated with flawless make up and full lips. She was toned and fit looking under the long, but clingy soft yellow dress she wore. Sam's first thought went to how much Cobb was paying her to pretend to be his girlfriend. She was certainly leagues above Cobb in terms of looks.

"Hi, I'm Sam." Sam returned the smile, though his was more wary. "This is Alexi. You want to say hi to Ryan and Isabel?"

"No," Alexi said firmly, raising a little eyebrow at the pair in front of her. Sam fought to smother back the laughter that wanted to escape. It seems Natasha might have been a bit of an influence on Alexi's attitude. Cobb gave the toddler a sullen look, but Isabel smiled and held out her arms.

"It's okay, I'm studying early childhood education," Isabel explained, reaching for Alexi. "She'll warm up to me pretty quickly."

Alexi pulled away, clinging onto Sam at the sight of Isabel coming near her.

"That's not a good….." Sam started before being cut off by an ear splitting shriek from Alexi.

"Fuck off!" Alexi shrieked at Isabel, reaching out and batting her hands away. "Make her go away. I want Kari."

Alexi's wails grew in intensity with every word. Sam cringed at how loud she was. Alexi clung around Sam's neck and stared to sob so hard her little body was shaking. Just as his luck would have it, he was dealing with an infamous Alexi meltdown.

"I want Kari! Bring her back," Alexi wailed through her sobs. "Make her come back."

"Shhhhh." Sam felt completely powerless as he tried to soothe the crying toddler. Isabel looked at the pair of them wide eyed and looking very bewildered at what was going on.

"Bring her back!" Alexi cried again. "Bring back my Kari!"

Evans appeared in the entrance and quickly relieved Sam of Alexi, murmuring soothing words to her as he took her out of the room. She was so loud that none of them missed her next hysterical wail, even though Evans was already halfway up the stairs.

"Riley never came back." Alexi sobbed, breaking Sam's heart into a million pieces at the sound of her heart wrenching cry. "Make him come back."

All Sam could hear was his heart hammering after hearing Alexi cry for Riley. He felt like someone punched him in the stomach. He couldn't breath and his limbs felt like lead as he tried to move. He quickly forced his body into submission, not wanting to get emotional in front of the person he hated the most in the world right now.

"Excuse me," Sam muttered, feeling his chest tighten as the emotions threatened to overwhelm him. He ducked off and went straight for the downstairs bathroom, near slamming the door shut behind me. He went to the sink, his grip hard as he struggled to fight back the tears. He missed Riley so much as well as well. Sam would give anything to be the one who shoved Barton out of the way that day. Riley didn't deserve an ending like the one he got. He was meant to be the one who got a happily ever after. Sam and Riley had been friends for a lot of years. He'd never seen Riley so happy as he was with Kari. His best friend deserved someone like her. Only to have it snatched away by a fucking well placed bullet.

"Hey," Abby's voice broke through the haze of his mind. "Come here."

Sam didn't fight, he let Abby reach up and pull him into a tight hug. He took in a few shuddering breaths, willing the tears not to fall. He didn't need this tonight. But hearing Riley's god daughter cry for him like that made all the emotions he kept bottled up snap. His knees gave way as he sank to the bathroom floor, Abby went down with him, cradling him like a child.

"I'm sorry, we have a million photos of him everywhere and she's been asking 'Where's Riley' since Kari isn't around," Abby murmured into Sam's hair, rocking him gently. "She's too young to understand."

"I want him back too," Sam said through his choked voice. "Can I throw an epic tantrum too?"

"As big as you want," Abby chuckled, tightened her grip on Sam for another firm hug. "I don't mind. Just don't fling your dinner at the wall like Alexi does. Then I might get cranky."

Sam chuckled weakly, returning the hug. It took him another few minutes to get himself under control. Abby said nothing, she sat there patiently waiting until Sam spoke.

"I'm sorry," Sam said weakly, reaching up to wipe his face. His hand came away wet with tears he hadn't realised had fallen.

"You are not allowed to apologise for feeling sad your best friend is gone," Abby said, her tone mostly firm. It wavered at the end slightly, her voice sounded a little choked up as well. "We all miss him."

Riley had been well liked by everyone. Sam couldn't think of anyone he didn't get along with, well except Rollins. That day where Riley and Rollins had nearly gotten into a punch up made his lips tug upwards in amusement. It'd been the first and only time Sam had seen Riley lose his temper in such a spectacular way.

"That's better." Abby noticed the small quirk of amusement, kissing Sam on the forehead. "What are you smiling about?"

"When Riley punched Rollins in the face," Sam said, wiping his nose with the sleeve on his shirt.

"That was pretty funny." Abby smiled as well. "Poor Troy was so flabbergasted when he got home. I didn't stop laughing for 5 minutes when he told me the story."

"Riley said he'd burn the world down for Kari." Sam's little bit of amusement fell away from his face, remembering back to that day when he was trying to calm his best friend down after Kari had been knocked off her motorbike by accident. "I had to remind him she was more than capable of burning the world down herself, and if she wasn't he'd have to get in line behind Natasha to help do it."

Saying Natasha's name made Sam want to look down at his phone. Talking to Natasha always put a smile on his face. Maybe mentally picturing that new La Perla underwear set would take his mind off things. Getting away for the weekend was sounding like a very good idea now.

"That she is," Abby let out a small chuckle, giving Sam another small hug. "Come and give William a cuddle. I'll get you a beer. You're welcome to stay the night if you don't want to be alone tonight."

Sam nodded in agreement, wiping his face again. Even if he inclined to argue with Abby, he knew she'd get her own way in the end. Besides, William was a quiet and easy going baby. Sam wouldn't be able to upset him, even if he tried. Staying the night wouldn't be a stupid idea either. His own apartment would be very cold and lonely place to be tonight.

Abby gave Sam one last hug, before getting up off the floor and leaving him in peace. Sam slowly climbed off the bathroom floor, taking his time to wash his face and make sure he was composed enough to leave the room. He went into the kitchen and found the promised beer already on the bench for him. Abby was there with William in her arms, talking to Isabel. Sam noticed straight away how strained Abby's smile was looking. It only took another second for Sam to realise why.

"Getting her tested isn't a bad idea," Isabel said, completely oblivious the Abby's discomfort. "I mean having a child with Autism or Aspergers isn't a terrible thing these days. There's a lot of programs…"

"She's just a high functioning sociopath," Sam quickly cut into the conversation about Alexi. It wasn't the first time this subject had been brought up. But Sam knew how uncomfortable it made both Abby and Evans. They'd had every test in the world done on Alexi, considering how pre-mature and oxygen deprived she was at birth. There was nothing physically or mentally wrong. She was just very picky on who she liked and didn't like. "Isn't she Abby?"

"Very funny Sam," Abby rolled her eyes, but shot him a grateful look. "Here, your turn to hold the baby."

"Gladly," Sam said with a smile, hold his arms out. Abby deposited William into his hold, making Sam smile down at him. "Hey there buddy, hows it going?"

William opened his eyes briefly at the sound of Sam's voice. He yawned, stretching his little fists out before settled back down to sleep. Sam's smile widened looking down at the baby. There was no denying who his father was. William was a miniature version of Troy Evans himself.

"Can I take him outside?" Sam asked, carefully moving the baby in his arms so he didn't disturb him.

"Go for it," Abby said absently, turning back to the salad that was on the bench. "Do you want to introduce Isabel to everyone as well?"

Sam hid a smile at the subtle plea in Abby's voice. Isabel must have been driving her nuts in the small amount of time it'd taken him to get out of the bathroom.

"Sure." Sam indicated his head towards the back of the house to Isabel. "I promise we're all behaved and house trained. The other wives and girlfriends won't be far away either."

Sam had heard people arrived while in the bathroom. There'd have to be another female hanging around he could lump with the girl. Sam wasn't in the mood for pleasantries tonight.

"Oh I'm happy to help in here," Isabel said, completely oblivious to the discomfort she'd caused in the kitchen. "I really don't mind."

"I insist," Abby said firmly, but kindly. "Enjoy getting out of kitchen duty while it lasts though. Next time you'll be roped into something."

"Ok then," Isabel smiled again, this time looking a little unsure before turning back to Sam. "Lead the way?"

Sam didn't need to be told twice. As soon as they were outside, Sam pointed out the names of everyone and went to talk to Marks, Andy and Nick. The other group had Cobb standing there, so Sam wasn't going anywhere near him.

The night went on smoothly. William got passed around to everyone before he went to bed. Alexi came outside, red faced and quiet. She alternated between Sam and her Dad throughout the night before going to bed very early. After his second beer and dessert, Sam went to the guest room as well. As he lay in bed, he checked his phone. It'd vibrated in his pocket a few times during the night. He wasn't surprised to find a few text messages from Natasha.

 _Have fun. Give Alexi a hug for me._

 _What will it take for you to come out here for the weekend?_

 _How about this?_

In the last message, a picture of Natasha in her new lingerie was attached. She'd kept her face out of the photo. But Sam felt blood rush away from his brain and straight to his groin.

"Damn you woman," Sam muttered under his breath, eyes roving over the phone screen. Natasha was perfection in the lacy and skimpy lingerie set. Sam closed the message and went to his internet banking. What greeted him made him sigh in disappointment. It was the week before he got paid and his bank account was not looking healthy enough to jump on a plane to California for the weekend. It barely looked healthy enough to get through the next week. His credit card looked just as unhealthy as his bank balance.

Sam sighed as flicked back to his messages, trying not to be too disappointed.

 _The body is very willing, but the bank account is saying no_.

It only took a few seconds before a reply came through.

 _My shout?_

Sam chewed on his lip, staring at the screen. As tempting as it was, he wasn't keen on treading down that path of Natasha paying for anything for him. While he contemplated his answer, another message came through.

 _You can pay me back, but I don't accept cash payment ;) Flesh only._

The thought of exactly how he'd pay Natasha back sent blood rushing straight back to his groin. It took a lot of self control for Sam to not jump at the opportunity to say yes straight away. It was a slippery slope he was about to step onto. He needed to think with his head, not his cock.

 _I'll think about it._

"Sam?" A quiet voice came through the door. Sam jumped, turning over in bed to see Alexi peering through a crack in the door. He hadn't heard her open it. She was starting to get clever with things like that.

"Hey Munchkin," Sam said quietly. Every naughty thought from before was quickly banished from his mind. "Whats up?

Alexi stuck her thumb in her mouth and pushed the door open enough she could walk in, trailing blanket behind her in one hand and book in the other. She was still red eyed and a little teary looking.

"Read?" Alexi asked, handing the book to Sam.

"Sure." Sam couldn't resist, he took 'The Hungry Caterpillar' off Alexi and patted the bed next to him. Alexi climbed up to him, sticking her thumb back in her mouth and laying her head on his chest.

"Miss Kari," Alexi said quietly around her thumb.

"I know." Sam smiled sadly, pushing her dark curls out of her eyes. "She'll be home soon though. I promise. Ready for your story?"

Alexi nodded, snuggling further into Sam than before. He only got through the first 4 pages before Alexi was fast asleep. Not wanting to disturb her, Sam carefully reached over and flicked off the bedside lamp, leaving the sleeping toddler beside him. Her heavy breathing quickly lulled Sam to sleep.

Sam didn't stir until his alarm on his phone went off at 0545. He groggily reached over, fumbling with the iPhone until he hit the snooze button. Alexi was nowhere to be seen, but judging by the lack of noise last night, Sam was sure she went back to her own bed during the night. Sam picked up his phone, squinting at the bright screen to see what had come in overnight. The last few texts on his screen made him groan. All from Natasha. Instead of reading them, Sam went straight to replying instead of reading them.

 _I'm sorry, Alexi came in and wanted a bedtime story. I fell asleep with her straight afterwards. She really misses Kari. Tugs on my heartstrings way too much._

Sam felt another pang of sadness, reading over the text message again as he sent it. Kari wasn't the only person Alexi was missing. He'd honestly thought she'd be far too young to remember Riley. But Abby was right in saying that there was a lot of photos of Riley in their house. He'd been a major part of Alexi's life and not even death could erase those memories. She wasn't the only one missing Riley though. Sam rolled over, burying his head into the pillow. This was definitely going to be one of his rougher days. Still, he forced himself out of bed, got dressed and downstairs for coffee. Bravo team were hitting the range today and he needed to be at work by 0630 at the very latest.

Evans was already there, dressed and ready to go. Alexi was sitting in her chair, flinging cereal around more than she was eating it.

"Morning." Evans said through a yawn, handing Sam a cup of coffee. "Sleep well?"

"Surprisingly enough, yes. Thanks for letting me stay the night." Sam took a cautious sip of coffee. Evans liked his coffee strong enough to strip paint. Sam was more partial to having taste buds left after a cup of coffee. Thankfully it was a normal strength one.

"Anytime, especially if it keeps certain people quiet all night," Evans chuckled, looking at his daughter. "Alexi, please can we keep your cereal in the bowl and not on the floor?"

"This is why you need a dog," Sam chuckled. Especially as Alexi looked at Evans before deliberately pushing more cereal out of the bowl and onto the floor.

"Alexi," Evans huffed a sigh. "Seriously? And I want a dog. Try talking Abby into it though."

"Seriously?" Alexi mimicked, laughing at she stuck her spoon in her bowl again. This time she ate the spoonful instead of shoving it on the floor.

"Brat," Evans laughed, moving to grab a broom to clean up the mess. "Want a lift in this morning?"

"Sure." Sam had a change of uniform in his locker, so there was no real need for him to go home.

Abby came down in the kitchen, carrying a gurgling, smiling William. Evans face lit up as he reached out for his son.

"Hey little man," Evans said with a grin. "Hows my happy boy?"

Sam stood back and watched the scene with a small smile of his own. He hoped one day he'd get a happy scene like this. But he wasn't in a hurry to settle down and get married. Hell, he wasn't even in a hurry to have a relationship. What he and Natasha had at the moment suited him just fine.

Sam grabbed some cereal, scoffing it down while Evans finished cleaning up Alexi's mess and made his wife a coffee and breakfast while she fed William. With a kiss goodbye to all his kids and wife, Sam and Evans got in the car and headed they were on their way to the Triskelion.

The morning traffic was shit, as normal in DC. Sam and Evans pulled up at 0622. Sam barely had time to get dressed and was the last one on the bus. The drive to the range was quiet, everyone was still in the process of waking up. Sam had a seat to himself, so he pulled him phone out, impatiently for Natasha's reply. Her last few messages were more of the same trying to persuade Sam to say yes to going to California for the weekend. The bus had just pulled up at the range by the time her reply came through.

 _Did you have to read The Hungry Caterpillar? That would have been a cute sight. So, come on. Please come out for the weekend? I really want to see you._

Sam smiled at the message, but closed it without replying. He was so close to saying yes. There was a small part of him that was enjoying Natasha asking for him. It was an incredible ego boost to have a gorgeous woman like that begging for his attention. Especially with her definitely not being the type to do such a thing.

Still, he pushed it out of his mind and got his head back into his work. Thinking of Natasha while trying to shoot would be far too much of a distraction.

The quiet atmosphere from the bus was quickly transformed into the usual noise that came with everyone getting ready for a day of shooting. Everyone except the few who needed to do a sidearm qualification shoot, Sam included, would peel off and do what they wanted to practice for the day. Sam picked out the favoured Glock 19 of most STRIKE agents and a few magazines to go with it. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Cobb going for the P30.

"Use the Glock," Sam said to him gruffly. "The P30 kicks up to the left if you aren't used to it."

"Barton uses the P30, so I'll use the P30," Cobb said, rolling his eyes. "You aren't a marksman, you wouldn't understand these things."

Sam felt a rush of anger at Cobb's words. Cobb was even staring at Sam like he was the dumbest person alive, making the situation even worse. Evans heard their little exchange, looking up and keeping a steady eye contact with Sam.

"Breathe," Andy muttered behind him as he loaded his own weapon. "Don't punch him. It's too early in the day for that."

Sam gritted his teeth, but said nothing. He shook his head a little at Evans, who backed off straight away. It was no skin off his nose if Cobb didn't pass his sidearm qualification. No one would miss him if he got grounded.

"You know, Kari uses a P30 too," Andy spoke up. "Last time she was at the range, she dumped 100 rounds into the same hole trying to beat Barton's record. If she can do that, surely you should be able to as well?"

Sam bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself laughing. They had all found out very quickly Cobb did not like being compared to Kari. At all. He had a major bug up his ass about a skinny girl being able to outshoot nearly everyone, except for Barton. Cobb was determined to make himself look good by doing anything she could.

Cobb looked between Sam and Andy, almost definitely while still loading the P30. He snapped the magazine in a lot harder than necessary, while picking up a few extras.

"Knock yourself out kid," Andy said with a smirk. "Good luck out there."

Sam hid his own smile, getting his weapon ready pretending nothing was amiss at all. He was very glad he wasn't alone in his dislike for Cobb. While the team tolerated him, no one actually liked him. He was only invited to everything out of politeness.

Not waiting for anyone, Sam finished grabbing the last of his ammo and headed for the short range. The range master, a semi retired STRIKE operator known only as Sarge. was already there. Clipboard in hand, he was the one ready to pass or fail everyone today. Sam quickly rattled off his name and service number, wanting to get done as soon as possible. An M4 with a big box of ammo was calling his name for after this.

"20, 30 and 40 yard line," Sarge said, pointing towards the nearest shooting lane. "10 rounds in each, non stop. Don't take all fucking day to get ready."

Though Cobb was right about Sam being no marksman, he was still a good shot. Being Riley's spotter for years had given Sam an appreciation and skill into the finer points of shooting. Standing in his lane, Sam took aim and gently squeezed the trigger. The first 10 rounds hit their mark easily, as did the next 10 and the 10 after that. Sam only faltered at the 40 yard target, his last few shots going off mark due to carelessness on his behalf. Sam frowned at the target after he finished his final shot. He should have taken more care and time on the last one. Still, it would be an easy pass.

"Strip." Sarge commanded.

Sam quickly disassembled his weapon, his fingers moving with years of muscle memory. In 15 seconds, he had the weapon completely stripped down and laid out.

"Reassemble."

Sam had the Glock 19 back together within 20 seconds, proudly handing the weapon over to the range master for inspection. As always, Sarge took his time inspecting the weapon for a thorough job. Sam wasn't nervous though. He knew it was part of the game to get guys nervous and prone to saying or doing something stupid.

"You want to do the 40 yard one again, or are you happy with it?" Sarge asked after a long few minutes, handing the sidearm back.

"I'll do it again." Sam said quickly. He wasn't stupid enough to say he was happy with it. Sarge would rip him a new asshole if he didn't try again. He made that mistake as a rookie once. He'd never do it again.

This time Sam took his time lining up his 40 yard shot. The 10 rounds hit the target exactly where he wanted them to this time. Sarge nodded his head in approval as soon as the last round hit the target.

"Pass. Next!"

Sam winced at how loud the man could holler. But nodded his thanks anyway. To his amusement, Cobb was the next one waiting to go.

Sam hung back as discreetly as he could, making it look like he was fiddling with his Glock. He wasn't the only one. A few of the other team members were discreetly watching, while pretending to wait their turn for qualifications.

Cobb's first shots went wild. He didn't manage to hit the target at all. He stopped, cursed a few times and checked the weapon before reloading. Sarge stood to the side, arms crossed frowning Cobb as he tried again. This time he managed to graze the target once and hit the one next to him twice.

"Do you know how to shoot one of those son?" Sarge asked, raising an eyebrow at Cobb in mild disgust. "I'm pretty sure that's a STRIKE patch on your uniform, but I've seen officer workers shoot better than that."

"Must be a wonky weapon," Cobb said, red faced with embarrassment. "I'll go change it."

"Give it here." Sarge held his hand out for the P30. He checked it over before aiming down the range. A sharp crack and the bullet from the shot head dead centre of the target. "Works good for me."

Sam couldn't help but snicker in amusement. Cobb shot him a dark look and mouthed fuck off. Sam only cheerfully waved and stood his ground. This was too good for him to pass up watching.

"Can you tell them all to fuck off?" Cobb turned to Sarge. "I don't need an audience."

"And what are you going to do if you have an audience out in the field one day?" Sarge gave Cobb a grim look. "Ask them to turn around so you can shoot at them? Grow some balls and hurry the fuck up. I don't have all day."

Cobb's face turned even redder than before. He cleared his throat and turned back to the targets. This time he managed to hit at the 20 yard target, but completely missed the 30. All of his shots were going left, yet Cobb seemed to be adjusting his aim for a weapon that kicked to the right.

"Jesus fucking christ on a cracker," Sam muttered under his breath before raising his voice. "Left Cobb, left. The arm you don't jerk off with. It kicks up to the left."

"Fuck off Parsons," Cobb snapped, using Sam's last name. "I don't need your help."

"Whatever." Sam couldn't watch anymore. He didn't hear whatever Sarge snapped at Cobb. He simply turned on his heel and marched away. He only got a dozen paces away before someone grabbed his shoulder, jerking him back around. Sam came nearly face to face with a very angry looking Cobb.

"Careful there Cobb, you'll start to turn into popcorn if you get any angrier," Sam snarked at him, feeling his hand tighten around the Glock in his hand.

"What's your fucking problem Parsons?" Cobb ignored the jab. He shoved Sam roughly, causing him to stagger back a few steps. Cobb was bigger than Sam, but not by much. Sam dimly heard for someone calling at them to back off, but the rush of anger made all the background noise dim to nothing.

"You, you're my fucking problem." Sam's temper started to fray. "You're a smart ass little shit who has a big mouth and ego for no fucking reason. What I want to know is who's cock did you suck to pass at the Academy?"

"Hey!" Evans appeared out of nowhere, pulling Sam away from Cobb. Andy was doing the same with Cobb, pulling him out of Sam's reach. "That's enough. Back off, both of you."

"You're just being a pissy little bitch because your friend was too fucking stupid and got himself killed," Cobb snarled back at Sam, straining to pull away from Andy. "You know what I think?"

"Cobb, shut your fucking mouth right this instant," Evans snapped. "No one wants to hear what you think. Back the fuck off."

"I think that Riley found out his dirty slut of a girlfriend was fucking Barton. He meant to shove Barton into the line of fire but got hit instead. Dumb fucking cunt he was." Cobb ignored Evans, throwing his taunt directly at Sam. "He deserves to be rotting in a fucking grave."

Sam saw nothing but red. All of a sudden the grip on his gun was far too tempting. His body reacted before his brain caught up. Sam pointed the Glock at Cobb's foot and pulled the trigger. The bullet seemed to travel in slow motion, sinking into the leather of Cobb's foot before a spray of blood came gushing out. Sam didn't get to see anything else, he hit the dirt hard as someone tackled him to the ground. Another kicked the Glock out of his hand, sending it spinning out of reach into the grass.

"Stay down Sam." Evans hissed at him. "Fuck me, this is not how I needed my first week at work to go."

"Staying down." Sam said automatically, feeling like he wasn't really in his body. Cobb was on the ground, clutching at his foot screaming bloody murder. There was a good puddle of blood forming under his shot foot. Sam felt a very grim satisfaction at the sounds Cobb was making. In his mind, he deserved what he just got.

The next few minutes happened in a blur. Cobb was carried away as an ambulance came tearing down the driveway to the range. Sam was hauled to his feet and marched to the bus by 2 of his teammates and Evans. It was Evans who roughly shoved him down in a seat.

"Am I going to have to cuff you?" Evans asked firmly.

Sam shook his head, his eyes dropping to look at the ground. Now his anger had faded down, Sam knew he was fucked in so many ways. Looking for a new job was about to be the least of his worries.

"Good." Evans looked the most angry Sam had ever seen him. "Sit here and do not move a fucking muscle."

"Sir," Sam murmured in confirmation of his order.

"This is not how I imagined my day was going to pan out," Evans huffed out an irritable sigh before storming off.

Sam sat in on the bus seat, willing his hammering heart to slow back down to a normal pace. He'd never lost his temper like that before. But combined with Alexi crying for Riley yesterday, the comments were too much for him. Sam closed his eyes, leaning his head against the seat in front of him. His throat closed and he felt like he was ready to start crying. Sam swallowed back the lump in his throat and rubbed his face, hard, hoping the distraction would be enough to stop any tears happening. He managed to keep his emotions under control. But Sam felt like he could lose it at at moment.

Time dragged on for Sam as he sat in the bus by himself. There wasn't even one of the guys at the door guarding to make sure he didn't escape or do something stupid. Evans had even turned the bus on so the air conditioner was on. Otherwise Sam would have been baking in the August sun by now. He wasn't surprised when Evans came back on the bus and motioned for him to get up.

"Go sit in the car," Evans said gruffly, the anger gone from his voice as he pointed to a standard SHIELD SUV parked outside. "I'll be with you in a minute."

Sam nodded, not trusting his voice to speak. As he walked past Evans, he reached up and gave Sam's shoulder a small, but reassuring squeeze. Sam felt like it was the longest 9 steps he'd ever done in his life. He wondered if this walk was what people felt like walking to their own execution. Sam was pretty sure he wasn't going to see daylight anytime soon. The Fridge would have a cell with his name on it.

As he slid into the car, Sam was very surprised that there were no armed guards waiting for him. There was only Andrew Garner, SHIELD's head psychologist sitting in the passenger seat.

"Sam is it?" Andrew asked, turning around in his seat to face him. Sam nodded, feeling very wary all of a sudden. "I'm Andrew, SHIELD's head psychologist. Nice to meet you."

Sam's tongue felt too heavy to speak as he numbly shook the other man's hand.

"I understand you've had a bit of a shitty morning," Andrew said kindly. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Everything came crashing down on Sam in an instant. He fought to control his emotions but they boiled over before he could stop it.

"I miss him so fucking much," Sam managed to choke out before breaking down into tears. Sam felt like his heart was physically breaking. It hurt just as bad as the day he watched his best friend get carried out of the Quinjet in a bodybag.

The door next to him opened again and a weight slid in next to Sam. Evans wrapped an arm around Sam's shoulder, pulling him in close.

"Lets get you back," Evans said gently. All previous traces of anger were gone from his voice. Right now, he was worried about Sam more than anything else in the world. A driver got in the front seat and within seconds they were pulling away from the range.

The drive back to the Triskelion was fairly quiet as Sam pulled himself back together. Andrew didn't speak much, beyond asking a few personal questions once Sam calmed down. Sam answered everything truthfully, not spinning any bullshit that would only get him into further trouble. He knew he fucked up, in a very serious way. Right now speaking to a psychologist instead of sitting in a holding cell was a better way to spend his morning. Back at the Triskelion, Sam went straight to Evans office to wait his fate.

It didn't take long for Evans to come back. Sam wasn't surprised to see Coulson with him either. Although Coulson was STRIKE Team Delta's handler, he was also the most senior agent within Enforcement. Coulson would be the one giving the final decision on Sam's fate. He only hoped Coulson would make this as swift and painless as possible.

"Samuel Parsons," Coulson said as he slid into Evans chair. "I hear you've had a busy morning."

"Yes Sir," Sam said quietly, not daring to make eye contact. He knew this was it. He was about to be unemployed, possibly thrown in jail.

"I spoke with Andrew and Troy about what happened." Coulson didn't waste time, jumping straight to the point. "First up, I'm really disappointed a STRIKE member with your service record would lose his temper in such a spectacular way."

"You and me both Sir," Sam said, being as honest as possible. "I accept full responsibility for my actions."

Coulson looked at Sam with a strained smile. Sam closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

"You are suspended until further notice, with pay." Coulson's words made Sam's eyes snap back open in surprise. "There will be an internal investigation into this, obviously, but once thats concluded you'll be on office duties and psych appointments 3 times a week until Andrew is happy enough to let you resume normal duties. You're dismissed."

"Pardon?" Sam couldn't believe his ears. The look both Coulson and Evans gave him let him know he hadn't heard them wrong.

"Get your ass out of here until I say otherwise," Evans said firmly. "Dismissed."

Sam quickly got out of the chair and left the room before anyone could change their minds. As he walked down the hallway, he let out a shaky breath and disbelieving bark of laughter. He had no idea how he just avoided being thrown in the Fridge. Sam felt a little numb as his shaking fingers hit the elevator button. It had all be over and done with far quicker than he ever though. The fact he was able to walk out of Evans office was nothing short of a miracle. While waiting for the elevator, he pulled his phone out, trying to pull his thoughts back together. It'd been quiet since Natasha's last message. It wasn't hard to decide what Sam was now doing for the weekend. Pressing Natasha's name, he put the phone to his ear. Natasha answered halfway through the second ring.

"Whats up?" her sharp tone hid none of the concern in her voice.

"You've persuaded me to come out for the weekend," Sam said, his voice still a little hoarse from crying. "I can kind of leave right now."

"Sam, what happened?" Natasha's voice softened straight away. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Sam half lied, running a hand through his hair. "I may, kind of be suspended though."

There was silence on the other end of the phone except for the faint sound of Natasha tapping on the keyboard.

"The next flight to LA leaves in 55 minutes, Delta Airlines, you have a ticket," Natasha said after half a minute. "Get your ass over here now."

"Yes Ma'am," Sam chuckled wearily. "Are pants required?"

"Only in pubic," Natasha's soft sigh of relief was clear to Sam's ears. "See you in a few hours."

"Bye," Sam said softly, hanging up before Natasha could ask anymore questions. It was half an hour drive from the Triskelion to the airport, so he needed to get his ass into gear. The elevator finally opened, letting Sam head to the locker room and shove his spare civilian clothes into his gym bag. He was halfway out the locker room door before realising he didn't have his car here.

"Need a lift?" Evans' voice made Sam jump. He whirled around to see his STRIKE leader leaning against the wall next to the door.

"Yeah, airport if that's okay?" Sam asked, feeling cautious. He'd been doing a good job of keeping his relationship secret with Natasha. Saying he was flying to California was a dead give away. "Thought I'd head back home to Detroit while I'm grounded."

"Sure." Evans pushed himself off the wall. "Flying via LA is one hell of a detour though."

Sam fumbled for an excuse. When he couldn't think of one, he shrugged helplessly. He had no way of explaining this off as anything but what it really was. He wasn't that surprised Evans would have found out. With Natasha being undercover, Coulson has full access to her phone records. Sam cringed, really hoping that Coulson didn't read any of her messages. There were plenty of dirty ones in there.

"She'll have my balls for telling anyone," Sam said, his shoulders slumping a little. This day was not going to plan for him at all.

"I already knew," Evans said, his face relaxing into a gentle smile. "Coulson sent me a picture of you doing the walk of shame out of Jared's apartment. Come on, I'll get you to the airport."

Sam felt his cheeks warm up at the memory of that night. Doing a walk of shame was bad enough. Having all of Natasha's friends and handler watching had been near mortifying. The night before was worth the embarrassment though.

"Thanks," Sam felt a weight lift of his shoulders as they began a brisk walk to the carpark. "And thanks for not sending my ass to jail."

"Well, it's not like he didn't provoke you." Evans shrugged, brushing off the thanks. "Besides, when I told Coulson what he said, he was more than happy to grant a little bit of leniency. We're both grateful Barton wasn't at the range like he was meant to be this morning."

Sam shuddered, trying not to dwell too much on what would have happened if Barton was there. Or Natasha. Cobb would be dead and there wouldn't be enough pieces left of him to bury. Sam hated that rumour that got thrown around, for both Barton and Kari's sake. He'd briefly met Clint's girlfriend while they were all still in hospital after Pripyat. Anyone who had at least 2 brain cells and eyes could tell that there was nothing but friendship between Kari and Barton.

"Still, I'm sorry and I'm really grateful for the second chance," Sam said as they reached Evans' car. "Thanks Troy."

"You're welcome."

Thanks to Evans superior driving skills and a lucky run of traffic, Sam made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. When he got to the checkin desk, he found a very nice surprise waiting for him.

"Your first class tickets Mr Parsons," the lady behind the desk smiled, handing them over to him. "Please enjoy our first class lounge before your flight takes off. Enjoy your trip."

Sam smiled back, mentally sending Natasha a very big thank you. He'd definitely have to pay her back in a big way tonight.

The first class trip was the most comfortable plane trip Sam ever had. He was feeling completely relaxed and the shitty morning had slowly faded from the front of his mind. Checking his watch, it was only 1300 in LA. He'd have plenty of time to catch a cab to Natasha's apartment and have something on for dinner by the time she got home from work.

As he disembarked the plane, he saw a familiar flash of red hair below him. Sam did a double take to make sure he wasn't seeing things. But there she was, Natasha Romanoff herself, dressed in a pretty green sundress, hair loose and minimal make up. She looked like a goddess, standing there in a patch of afternoon sunlight. Men looked at her as they passed. But she didn't glance at any of them.

Sam's step faltered. Natasha never picked him up from the airport. He always caught a cab to her apartment and back. Despite being on the other side of the country, they still kept things discreet. It was one of their rules. But he wasn't going to complain about Natasha picking him up. Especially when she looked so gorgeous, standing there scanning the crowd impatiently. Sam quickly picked up the pace, walking down the escalator at a brisk pace. Sam came up behind Natasha, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and lent forward.

"Hi gorgeous."

"Hi yourself." Natasha craned her head back, smiling at him. "I faked being sick at work so I could come pick you up."

"Thanks. I appreciate your sacrifice." Sam chuckled, brushing a kiss against her lips. To his surprise and delight, she didn't pull back of chastise him for a public display of affection.

Instead, Natasha turned around, threw her arms around his neck and gave him a very public inappropriate kiss. Sam grinned against her lips, kissing her back, pulling her in closer to his body. She was going to have to walk in front of Sam after a kiss like that.

"Lets go." Natasha pulled back, looking as breathless as Sam felt. "I'm going to take you back to my apartment and ride you until I can't walk properly tomorrow."

Sam groaned, feeling the blood rush away from his head and straight to his groin.

"You can get me started in the car." Natasha's smile was mischievous and full of laughter. "I'm not wearing any panties."

Sam had no idea how he got so lucky.

Hours later, Sam lay back on Natasha bed, still breathless even though they'd stopped 5 minutes ago. Natasha lay against his side, her head on his chest as she idly traced random patterns on Sam's skin. The morning felt like it happened years ago. Natasha had made every trouble in his head slip away with her amazing body.

"So, you gonna tell me what you got suspended over?" Natasha asked quietly, breaking the peaceful silence.

"I'm impressed you lasted this long without asking," Sam said with a small chuckle, stalling for a bit of time to compose himself. The last thing he wanted to do was break down in front of Natasha. Though she continually surprised him by how open and affectionate she could be. Sam was sure she didn't want to see him an emotional wreck.

"Well, I did keep your tongue very busy," Natasha said, looking up at him with a smirk. "I think you paid me back sufficiently well. So, spill."

"I kind of…" Sam trailed off, reaching up to scratch the stubble on his chin. Natasha nudging him with her elbow made him blurt the confession out. "I shot Cobb in the foot at the range. With a live round."

"Sam." Natasha drew out his name over a few syllables. "What the fuck? And how are you not in the Fridge right now?"

"It's a bit of a long story," Sam sighed.

"We have all night," Natasha pointed out, looking up at him with a firm gaze. Sam knew he wasn't getting out of telling her the whole thing.

Sam started with what happened with Alexi and him getting emotional in the bathroom. He noticed Natasha looking away when he told her about Alexi's meltdown and crying for Riley. Sam hugged Natasha a little tighter after that. He knew she missed Riley a lot as well. Though Riley was quite terrified of the Russian assassin, they both had a lot of mutual respect for each other which had blossomed into a friendship over the last few months of his life. Sam had a sneaking suspicion that Riley took Natasha engagement ring shopping once, but Riley refused to confirm or deny it. Though he'd been awfully smug about something just before he died and it wasn't just the house he brought in secret either. Since no one found any evidence of an engagement ring anywhere, Sam put it down to his over active imagination. Or Riley had the best hide and seek skills out of any of them. Natasha promised Sam she knew nothing about it either.

"Poor little Munchkin," Natasha sounded sad, speaking into Sam's chest rather than look up at him. "I thought she'd be too young to remember. Kari said she always points to his photos and says his name. But she's never asked her where Riley is."

Sam agreed, going on with what happened at the range this morning. As he got to the part about what Cobb said about Riley, Natasha's entire body went stiff with anger. She muttered something under her breath in Russian, which Sam didn't speak.

"So, I shot him in the foot." Sam finished with a sigh. "Lucky for me, Evans heard the whole thing and I only got off because Cobb started it. Though I'm suspended until further notice, on office duties forever and seeing Andrew Garner until he clears me for the field again. Which will probably take the rest of the year. But its better than the Fridge."

"Andrew is good." Natasha wiggled up a bit until she was resting on Sam's shoulder, her bare leg draped over his body. Despite their numerous rounds of sex, Sam felt himself stir as her smooth leg brushed him in a very purposeful way. "We see Andrew. I like him a lot. Don't bullshit him and you'll be back in the field before you know it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Sam said, feeling a lot better now he had it all off his chest. He was very glad he didn't break down in front of Natasha either. But it felt good to talk it all out. "I hated the psych I had to see after Riley died. If you think highly of Andrew, I'll behave myself."

"In the meantime." Natasha suddenly moved, swiftly straddling Sam. His smile turned into a grin as he looked up at the gorgeous woman above him. "How about you not behave yourself and if you're a naughty enough boy, I'll treat you to a nice steak dinner."

"How about," Sam countered, shifting his weight and easily flipping Natasha over onto her back, Sam hovered over her, deliberately rubbing up against her how she liked it. She squirmed underneath him, trying to add more friction between them. "I pin you to this bed, fuck you as hard as I want. Then you still buy me that steak dinner."

"Handcuffs are under the bed if you want them," Natasha sultry purr and words had Sam ready to go again. He could only grin, thanking his lucky stars that he was bold enough to take a chance that night. Natasha had made a really shitty day disappear from his mind completely.

 **Authors note.**

 **So, did I tear out anyone's heart and stomp it into the dust with what Alexi said?  
**

 **I kind of wrote this instead of studying. Naughty me. But I hope everyone enjoyed it. As always, I'm more than happy to take requests. Sometimes it takes me a while to write them, but I find its an awesome way of keeping the creativity going.**

 **Enjoy everyone!**


	7. Chapter 7

**For something a little bit new and different. Here's Riley's point of view from when he first met Kari. This takes place over the first few chapters of Crystallize.**

* * *

Riley grumpily threw his bag in his locker, ignoring the chatter going on around him. Another day of still being on medical leave. He felt like it was never going to end. His arm ached with a new level of pain this morning. It was such a simple injury, yet it was a constant nagging ache keeping him out of the field.

What's worse is the medical was making him do the bullshit morning PT. He could get through it with his eyes shut. He really hated being surrounded by office workers, especially the giggling females who hounded the STRIKE members like it was a contest to see how many they could sleep with. The actual office duties weren't too bad, except today he'd be joined by infamous Jared Lyngley. The rumour was he'd killed a suspect out of anger instead of bringing him in for questioning. Riley didn't mind being stuck with Jared, but he had a nagging suspicion that he wouldn't exactly be helpful for their office duties either. With Bravo team gone for the next few weeks, Riley was feeling very out of place with himself right now. While he didn't envy his team slogging through the August heat in Baghdad, he'd give anything to be there bitching about it himself.

Riley had been so grouchy this morning he hadn't bothered to shave. He rolled out of bed, got dressed and came straight to work. That was one thing he enjoyed about being in SHIELD. No one cared that his hair was seriously unruly at the moment and he could go a few days without shaving without being told off for it. As long as he showed up to work, no one actually cared what anyone looked like.

He fought back an irritable sigh. Standing here contemplating about how scruffy he looked wasn't getting his ass down to PT. Rumlow might be his friend, but he'd still make him do chin ups and push ups until Riley's arms dropped off if he was late. The way his arm was feeling this morning, it would be an embarrassingly small amount of either of those two. Riley kicked his locked shut, almost feeling satisfied when it closed with a loud bang. Almost.

The walk to the outside exercise oval passed quickly and Riley found himself on the edge of the group, feeling out of sorts still. Besides Rumlow, he was the only STRIKE member attending the PT sessions at the moment. Riley briefly cursed his own shyness that stopped him heading over to the main group and joining in the lively conversation going on there. Though he did pick up a few bits and pieces of the conversation happening. Apparently some mutant had caused a problem on the weekend, which SHIELD was all over right now. Riley fought back a sigh and went back to ignoring the conversation. Whoever it was that got into trouble was probably sitting in the Fridge right now. He didn't feel the need to stand there and gossip about the poor person who's life was probably in ruins right now.

"You look fucking grumpy this morning," a semi familiar voice snapped Riley out of his thoughts.

As he looked up, Jackson, one of the guys from Charlie team was standing in front of him, looking as irritable as Riley was feeling.

"Hey man," Riley said, with a small rush of relief of having someone to talk to. "What happened to you?"

"Fell out of a Quinjet while rappelling down," Jackson replied with a frown and wince. "Landed on my back and screwed it up enough that I'm off duty for 4 weeks. This is the only thing I'm allowed to do. Hows your arm feeling?"

"Ouch." Riley winced in sympathy. He'd done that once as well, except he'd landed on his shoulder instead of back. "Arm is still sore as fuck, it's driving me mad."

Jackson opened his mouth to reply, but he frowned and quirked an eyebrow up instead. Before Riley could ask him what he was looking at, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Riley gritted his teeth, ready to avoid whoever it was that had just bothered him. Knowing his luck, it was the very persistent analyst who'd hadn't been shy about her attraction over the last few weeks.

The snap that was on Riley's lips died as soon as he turned to face the person who'd tapped him on the shoulder. It definitely wasn't the analyst. Instead it was a tall and very fit looking blonde female looking at him uncertainly. She had a vague familiarity about her, but Riley couldn't place it at all. She had dark blue eyes, high cheekbones and very kissable lips. Riley found himself lost for words staring at the very attractive woman in front of him.

"Hi, I'm Kari," the blonde said in a rush. "First day, Rumlow told me to keep up with you and not complain."

Riley found himself very awkwardly checking out the female in front of him. He couldn't stop himself and he inwardly cringed at how obvious he'd just been. Then another thought popped into his head. He was looking seriously scruffy right now. He couldn't even remember if he'd brushed his teeth this morning or not.

"Ummm, Hi," Riley managed to blurt out before the silence got too awkward. He unconsciously reached up, scrubbing a hand over the stubble that was starting to be a borderline beard. "Sorry I'm not normally this scruffy looking."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Riley wanted to smack himself in the face. Not only did he look like a mess, he felt like he sounded like a complete moron.

"Suits you," Kari said, smiling nervously.

Riley felt a hot blush start to crawl up his neck at her compliment. He was suddenly very grateful for his scruffy facial hair. It might cover the embarrassment he was currently feeling.

"Smooth man, real smooth," Jackson didn't hold back his amusement, or keep his voice down. Riley wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it. The first woman who'd caught his eye in months and he'd make a complete dick of himself in the first 5 minutes. The blush crawling up his neck quickly worked his way right up to his ears. His only saving grace was Kari giving him a sympathetic look. She looked vaguely embarrassed as well and very out of place.

"All right everyone, lets move out."

Riley was never so grateful to hear Rumlow's voice calling out across the crowd. Everyone around them picked up into a jog without another word. Riley did the same, with Kari falling into step beside him. Riley couldn't help but to watch her out of the corner of his eye, trying to place where he knew her face from. Her name wasn't very common and he swore he'd heard it from someone a few times. But other than that, she was a bit of a mystery. An attractive mystery. He forced himself not to stare as they jogged along. She kept up with him easily, barely breaking into a sweat and she didn't look at all winded by the time they finished the jog. It was obvious she was fit by just looking at her. But Riley was impressed by how easily she kept up and there wasn't even a murmur of complaint after the one mile run.

Wiping the sweat off his own face, Riley went to the chin up bar first. It was going to hurt the most, so he wanted to get it out of the way. Kari was standing there, looking at the chin up bar with a look of mild disgust on her face.

"Need a hand up?" Riley had no idea where the offer came from. His mouth activated without any thought process behind it at all. It wasn't like she couldn't reach. She was tall enough to easily get up onto the bars. His offer felt like it'd come across as being creepy instead of friendly.

"Please," Kari said, looking relieved.

Riley felt a rush of his own relief at her words. He gave her what he hoped to be a smile before stepping up and grabbing her by the hips. Riley was mildly surprised at how light she actually was she he boosted her onto the bar. He nearly threw her up too high but managed to control himself. He tried to squash down the thought that came roaring through his head. Having her very nicely formed ass right near his face wasn't helping those thoughts either. Riley quickly distracted himself before by jumping onto the bar next to her, purposely only using one arm so he didn't strain his bad arm. His other arm was his fucked shoulder, so it didn't make too much difference to his pain levels. Riley didn't want to admit, he may have felt like showing off a little as well. He wasn't the only one watching the newcomer of the group. She was strong as well as fit, pumping out the chin ups with ease. She was also doing her chin ups in a very similar style to most USAF people Riley knew. It only increased his curiosity about Kari.

"2 hands for beginners." Rumlow's smart ass comment snapped Riley back to reality.

Riley gave Rumlow a disgruntled expression, before swinging up his other arm and gripping the bar. The pain in his arm flared from its minor ache to a dull throb. Riley instantly shifted the weight off it.

"Come on, you won't get past your medical if you don't work that arm," Rumlow said firmly, catching onto what he was doing right away.

Riley grunted in acknowledgement and put his weight back onto his arm. It hurt, but he got through his chin ups and dropped to the ground. Kari was nearly finished hers, but Rumlow challenged her with a raised eyebrow.

"No, you can keep going," Rumlow said to Kari. He crossed his arms and made no room for arguments in his voice. "Until I say stop."

Riley bit back a smile at the look Kari shot at Rumlow. She may as well have announced to him 'Challenge accepted.' Rumlow wouldn't let her back down now until her arms fell off. Riley went over where he could do the rest of his workout while keeping an eye on her. As Riley went to drop to do his push ups, he caught a flash of red hair standing by the sidelines. Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow herself was watching what was going on in the PT session with great interest. Another curious piece of the puzzle about the newcomer.

As much as his arm hated him for it, Riley plowed through his push ups but took his time with the sit ups so he could keep watching Kari. She was on the push up matt with Rumlow standing over her keeping a close eye on what she was doing. Despite the sweat pouring off her and shaking arms, she never backed down until Rumlow said stop and called an end to the PT session. Kari got up, wiped her face off and sauntered off like she didn't have a care in the world about what just happened.

Without thinking about what he was doing, Riley followed her at a more sedate pace. Kari had stopped to talk to Jared Lyngley who'd appeared out of thin air, as he was known for doing. Natasha was gone, as far as Riley could tell. Not that he'd have the balls to go up and ask her why she was watching Kari. It wasn't any of his business either. He slowed down, pondering whether he should say something or not. Jared was standing there, so Riley thought he should at least say hello to him considering they'd be working together for the next few weeks. Then again, he was having a conversation with Kari and Riley thought he probably shouldn't interrupt. He went to walk past but found his feet slowing and mouth moving instead of going past them.

"Hey Jared," Riley found himself saying, mentally cringing at himself.

"Hey," Jared said instantly, looking over with a small smile, surprising the hell out of Riley. "Hows the arm feeling?"

"Better now there isn't a hole in it," Riley replied with a quiet laugh, resisting the urge to rub his now sore arm. "Do you two know each other?"

Riley mentally smacked himself at his question. He couldn't find his brain to mouth filter at all today. Standing next to each other, Kari and Jared looked nearly identical. Anyone with one working eye could easily tell they were related. His life would be so much better this morning if he was tongue tied and quiet, like he normally was around people he didn't know.

"My twin sister, Kari," Jared said, nodded his head in the direction of his sister. An almost sinister smirk appeared on his face, making Riley cringe for real this time. "Be nice, otherwise she'll have your balls as a trophy."

Riley didn't doubt that in the slightest. Despite looking embarrassed at what her brother had just said, she did look like she could inflict some serious damage if she wanted to.

"Ah," Riley fumbled for something else to say, shooting Kari what he hoped to be a genuine smile. The way it felt on his face was more like a grimace though. "No wonder you look alike. I better head in anyways, I'm still stuck on office duties."

Riley fought to keep a neutral expression on his face. He couldn't believe the dumb shit that was spewing out of his mouth. Jared would know he was on office duties with him. Riley knew Jared was put with him because he was the least likely person to smack Jared in the face if he lived up to his usual arrogant son of a bitch reputation.

"So am I." Jared pulled an expression of disgust. "I'll see you in there."

Riley turned to say something to Kari but found himself completely tongue tied. He wanted to say something witty and clever about her kicking ass in PT this morning. But nothing would come out.

"Have fun," was the only thing Riley could force out of his mouth. Feeling a little mortified at his lack of ability to come up with something witty or clever, he walked off.

"If you're going to go with a STRIKE guy, him I don't have a problem with," Jared's teasing words reached Riley's ears. Judging by the volume of Jared's voice, it was meant for him to hear it. Riley quickened his pace so he wouldn't have to hear Kari's reply. Riley didn't doubt she'd think he was an idiot and there'd be a very harsh rejection in there. He didn't have to heart to hear it this morning. Instead he went straight to the STRIKE locker room and into the first available shower. It was noisy with conversation, as was normal for this time of morning. Riley wasn't surprised that his jogging partner was the main gossip this morning.

"Did you see Jared's sister? She is fucking hot."

Riley couldn't place the voice, but he rolled his eyes as he started to lather himself up. He didn't want to stand in here and listen to the tasteless locker room talk. STRIKE had the highest population is single men within SHIELD. So there was a lot of tasteless locker room talk that went on.

"Pretty face, but I like my woman to have some kind of chest," someone else laughed. "The ass wasn't too bad though."

With a grunt to himself, Riley could concur to the ass comment. Kari did have a nice ass. If he was any less of a gentleman, he may have thought about having a grope while he lifted her onto the chin up bar.

"And lets not forget," Barton's voice rang out clearly across the bathroom. As soon as Barton spoke the entire bathroom went silent. It was a well known fact Jared and Barton were friends. "She's Jared little sister, so be very careful what you say about her. He wouldn't hesitate in making any of you disappear if he hears about it. She was also a F-22 pilot, so I wouldn't be surprised if she could kick most of your asses for the bullshit comments I'm hearing."

The topic immediately got changed to the baseball game from the weekend. Riley chuckled quietly under his breath, filing away the little tidbit of information about Kari. There were plenty of ex military in SHIELD and it was always a good conversation starter. He could ask her about her time in the military tomorrow during PT. There was a very specific mindset in specialised military branches, especially ones at the top of their game. Being an ex SEAL, Riley knew that mindset very well. He knew they could definitely have a good conversation. Feeling refreshed and determined about his plan for PT tomorrow, Riley got out of the shower and got dressed for the day. With a plan in mind to talk to the first woman to grab his attention in many months, Riley walked out of the locker room and onto his boring office duties with a bounce in his step.

The second Riley saw Kari in PT the next morning, all thoughts of the conversations he'd kept running through his head vanished. The effort of shaving, brushing his hair and taking a little bit of extra time to throw some cologne on was completely lost. He barely managed to mumbled a good morning before they started jogging. During the mile jog, Riley's mind kept screaming at him to say something. But he was completely tongue tied. By the time they both made it to the chin up bars, Riley finally managed to speak.

"Need a lift?"

"Sure."

Riley wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he swore he saw a faint tinge of pink appear on her cheeks at her easy acceptance of his offer. It gave him a small sliver of courage to be able to smile at Kari and gather his thoughts for what to do next. As he jumped up on the chin up bar, he made sure that he was working both arms properly this time. His arm wasn't feeling as bad this morning. It didn't hurt that he was also showing off a little bit. Rumlow seemed to be slightly more merciful to Kari this morning. This time he made her switch to pull ups halfway through her set. Riley could hear the muttered Russian curses under her breath, giving him yet another surprise. Her Russian sounded flawless. Whoever had taught her had done a magnificent job.

The rest of the work out went smoothly and again, Riley found himself hanging back completely unsure of something to say. It wasn't until Kari stood on the edge of the field, biting her lip looking completely lost he gathered his courage.

"Lost already?" Riley asked, coming to stand beside her. His stomach wound itself into knots with nerves as he stood there waiting for her reply.

"I have no idea where the gym is," Kari's reply came out in a breathless laugh. She looked just as uncertain as Riley was feeling. "And I have to be there in 10 minutes for a hand to hand combat class. Which I'm going to suck at so this morning is going to be terrible."

Her words came out in such a rush, Riley only barely caught onto the sentence. Despite the forced laugh, she looked as embarrassed as Riley was feeling. Jared was nowhere to be seen. Riley was sure he'd seen Romanoff out of the corner of his eye earlier, but she was long gone now too. This was his perfect opportunity.

"I'll walk you there if you'd like?" Riley found himself asking before he could overthink the situation. "I'm in no hurry to sit at a desk all day"

"Thanks," Kari said with a smile, the relief obvious in her face.

Riley knew the feeling too well of how overwhelming the Triskelion could be. It'd taken him 2 months not to get lost on a daily basis when he first joined SHIELD. As they walked off in silence, Riley tried to think of something clever to say to her. He'd thought of a few million things yesterday, but right now his mind was a complete blank.

"So what happened to your arm?" Kari broke the silence first, much to Riley's relief.

"I got shot through my bicep." Riley tried not to pull a disgusted face at himself, or rub his arm. It'd been a really unlucky situation that had led him to getting shot. "Pretty stupid injury, but it's taking ages to heal up."

"Ouch," Kari said sympathetically, wrinkling her nose a little. Riley forced himself not to smile at the expression on her face. It was very cute. "How did that happen?"

"I put my arm up to fire at someone," Riley explained, going for the condensed version of the events. His hand absently went to his arm, rubbing the scar. "Didn't see the enemy on that side and he got me through the arm."

The truth was, Riley's nest had been compromised and he'd gotten pinned down without any backup. Riley barely remembered how everything exactly happened, but it'd been one hell of a fire fight and he was lucky to escape with nothing more than a bullet in the bicep. Even his team has expected to find a corpse, instead of Riley staggering down the slope with something that was little more than a flesh wound.

"I've never been shot so you've got one up on me," Kari looked like she was regretting her words as soon as they left her mouth. The expression of embarrassment and nerves on her face put Riley at ease a little bit more.

"I'd hope not," Riley said with a genuine smile on his face. "After all, weren't you a Raptor pilot?"

"That was me." Kari smiled back, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. She looked sad though she did well to hide it. "Not exactly a skill set I needed to learn, dodging bullets."

Riley wanted to comment about how she dodging bullets in a fighter jet sounded a hell of a lot more complicated than dodging bullets on the ground. But Kari looked upset when talking about her old career. Riley had the strangest feeling of never wanting to see that expression on her face again. It was such an odd and sudden feeling, he felt a little taken back for a few seconds. He could only give her a small chuckle, and a smile in her direction. They'd arrived at the gym, stopping at the double doors in front of them. Riley had barely noticed the walk here. The pretty blonde by his side was far more exciting than focusing on his surroundings.

"Have fun," Riley found himself lost for words again. He didn't want their conversation to end so suddenly. Right now he'd give anything for another 10 minutes to talk to her. Though she was smiling, she still looked sad. As if she was lost in her thoughts about her old job.

"I'll try," Kari said with a grimace, the good humour completely falling off her face. She turned and put her hand on the door, hesitating before pushing it open.

"Hey Kari?" Riley said quickly, making her pause and turn back around. Despite feeling like an idiot, he felt like he needed another few seconds with her otherwise his whole day would be ruined. He'd do anything to put a smile back on her pretty face. "If you need a hand with anything just let me know. I'm bored out of my mind at the moment and don't mind helping."

Riley knew he was babbling. He hated himself for letting his mouth run away on him and sounding like an idiot. But like the smile that came onto Kari's face was worth every second of embarrassment he was feeling. The genuine smile was like seeing the sun come out after a thunderstorm.

"Thanks."

Such a simple word and Riley found himself hopelessly hooked on the smile on the woman in front of him. After such a long time with all the bullshit that had happened with his ex, he'd finally found a woman that had more the piqued his interest. He could feel his own smile playing across his face as they looked at each other in comfortable silence. It was broken as quickly as it came by Kari clearing her throat.

"I better get in there," Kari said, a dusting of pink spread across her cheeks. Despite her words, she looked like she was having a hard time moving.

"Yeah, sorry." Riley rushed out. He needed to get to the office too. "See you at PT tomorrow."

The smile Kari flashed at him before stepping in the doors made Riley feel a little giddy. He knew she was way above his league. But that smile made him feel like the luckiest man in the world to have her attention, even if it was only for a few seconds.

Riley really hoped he'd catch a glimpse of Kari before PT tomorrow. Otherwise tomorrow morning was going to feel like an eternity away. He was so caught up in watching her disappear into the gym, he nearly ran straight into Natasha Romanoff. It was only Natasha's quick reflexes that stopped them from colliding.

"Sorry Romanoff," Riley said instantly, taking another step around her.

Natasha said nothing, but the quirk of her eyebrow and know it all smirk on her face said more than words could. She slipped into the gym silently, making Riley curious about what the hell she was actually doing. But it wasn't his business. Feeling lighter than he had in ages, Riley bounced back to the locker room to get changed for another boring day of office duties.

Jared was already in the office when Riley finally got there. Unlike yesterday, where Jared spent most of his morning idly tapping on the computer and constantly looking at his phone, he was actually typing this morning. Riley greeting him and poured himself a cup of coffee before settling down in front of his own computer. As soon as his ass hit the seat, his cell chimed as a text message came through. See the sender was Abby, Riley quickly opened the message.

 _I will give you anything you want if you can come over and get Alexi to sleep. Please?_

"Jared, do you mind if I duck out for a few hours?" Riley asked. He didn't care what Jared's response was going to be, he'd go whether he liked it or not. He just didn't want to cause any friction so early on in their professional relationship.

"Nah, go for it," Jared said quickly, not bothering to look up from his computer screen. "I need a favour though."

Of course he did. Riley fought back the sigh of irritation that wanted to escape from him. He didn't know Jared that well, but he knew nothing would ever be simple around him.

"Sure." Riley gave in quickly.

"If anyone talks shit about Kari, just drop a subtle hint to Nat or Barton so the people talking shit can find themselves in a very unpleasant situation." The dead panned tone of Jared's voice made it hard to tell if he was joking or not. But when he looked up at Riley, his face was deadly serious. "The real reason she got kicked out of the Air Force and came over to SHIELD was because 2 fucking asshole in her squadron thought it'd be a fantastic idea to slip her a roofie and she lost control of her powers killing both of them when they tried to drag her off and rape her."

Riley felt his stomach turn at the harsh words spewing from Jared's mouth. He'd heard plenty of rumours in the short time Kari had been there. SHIELD was terrible for it. But the truth of why all of a sudden SHIELD snapped up a fighter pilot was a lot worse than he ever expected. Riley hadn't been paying attention the newest gossip, but he could only imagine what shit would be flying around right now. Being young and attractive, Kari would definitely be getting the worst kinds of rumours about her right now too.

"Are the two guys definitely dead?" Riley felt a surge of protectiveness. No one deserved that in their life. Riley hadn't thought about it much, but a female fighter pilot was a rarity. Kari would have worked her ass off to get where she was. Riley didn't doubt the offer to join SHIELD would have been a forced one. A few things started to fall into place about the mystery of Kari Lyngley at Jared's explanation.

"Very dead," Jared said, his tone and face both very neutral.

"Shame, I know some really good hiding places in the Mojave desert we could have spread their body parts around," Riley mused. He didn't even need to consider what he would have done if they weren't. People like that didn't deserve to live. His moral compass may have been compromised a few times in his Navy and SHIELD career. But getting rid of someone like two men who did that to Kari, wouldn't have made him lose a wink of sleep.

Jared didn't say anything for a good half a minute. Riley thought he may have stepped over the boundaries as the silence stretched on.

"Take all the time you need," Jared broke the silence with a smile. "I ducked off early yesterday so don't feel pressured to come back if you don't want to. Family problems?"

"No, just my god daughter not wanting to sleep," Riley said with a small chuckle, relief spreading throughout him. He felt like he'd just passed some sort of major test. Jared had just trusted him with something big and he wasn't going to let him down.

"Have fun with Alexi," Jared chuckled, the tension from before had disappeared completely.

"Always do," Riley chuckled with him, getting up and grabbing his phone and wallet. He was only mildly surprised to know that Jared knew that about him. But then again, nothing was ever a secret in SHIELD.

The drive to the Evans resident went quickly. As Riley pulled into the driveway, he could hear Alexi's wails before he turned his car off. Abby met him at the front door with a red faced and exhausted looking Alexi.

"Hey baby girl," Riley crooned, reaching out to take her into his arms. "What's all this fuss about?"

Alexi's wails immediately quietened down to quiet sobs at Riley's touch. She buried her face into Riley's shoulder, her fists bunching in his shirt.

"I hate you and love you all at the same time right now," Abby said with a sniff. She looked red eyed and teary herself. "Come inside and I'll make you a coffee."

"Come here," Riley said, pulling Abby into a hug before she could protest. Abby's body stiffened, like she was going to protest. But a second later she burst into tears herself, burying her face into Riley's chest.

"She wouldn't sleep and I couldn't do anything right to settle her down," Abby choked out between her sobs. "Why am I such a bad mother?"

"You aren't a bad mother," Riley soothed her, rubbing her back with his spare hand. Alexi's sobs had died down and he was able to shift her without fear of setting off another tantrum. "You just gave birth to a little demon who follows her father because he never sleeps either."

Abby chuckled wearily, her sobs quietening down as quickly as they had come on. Riley hugged her a little tighter. Evans had mentioned Abby had been diagnosed with post natal depression a month ago. But Abby being the stubborn woman she was refused to tell anyone or get any help for it. Riley was glad Abby trusted him enough to ring whenever it got rough. He might not be able to fix all her problems, but being there when she needed it was something he could definitely do.

"How about I make you some breakfast and a coffee?" Riley suggested gently. "I don't have to go back to work today. I'll watch Alexi for a few hours and you can have a nap."

Abby nodded, much to Riley's relief. He expected Abby to put up more of a fight or at least make some sort of fuss. By the time Riley made it into the kitchen, Alexi was fast asleep on his shoulder. Abby sat down at the kitchen table while Riley busied himself with coffee and scrambled eggs. Judging by the clean state of the kitchen, it looked like Abby had been living off whatever she could grab out of the cupboard.

"When was the last time you had a proper meal?" Riley asked as gently as he could, hoping Abby wouldn't take it as him being judgemental.

"Mum dropped a lasagne around yesterday," Abby explained, slumping down in her seat. "I've been eating it out of the container, so stop judging me."

Riley hid his smile by turning back to the scrambled eggs. He wouldn't ever judge Abby for eating food straight from a container. He did it more often than enough. Especially since he'd been injured. The accumulation of Chinese takeaway containers in his fridge was getting to the point of embarrassing. With Evans away on an extended mission, Abby needed all the help she could get. Riley came over nearly every other day of the week to make sure she had everything she needed.

The kitchen was quiet while Riley finished the scrambled eggs and coffee. Abby was barely awake until he put the coffee and scrambled eggs down in front of her. The smile on her face was nothing short of beaming. It reminded Riley a little of Kari's smile this morning. He couldn't help but remember that smile and how it made him feel earlier.

"What?" Abby's demanding question snapped him out of his little day dream.

"Nothing," Riley said quickly, sliding into his chair, being mindful not to jolt Alexi too much. It was a good thing she was small, otherwise it'd be quite a handful to juggle.

"Oh no way Riley, you don't get to sit there with a dreamy smile on your face and telling me its nothing, spill right this very second," Abby demanded, looking the most awake Riley had seen her in weeks.

"There's a new girl at work, she's cute," Riley tried to be as nonchalant as possible as he stirred his coffee.

"She's cute." Abby gave Riley a disbelieving look. "So because she's cute you're sitting there with a goofy smile on your face and that's the only reason?"

"Something like that," Riley said with a shrug. "She's Jared Lyngley's sister."

"Thats the hot teleporting guy isn't it?" Abby asked. Riley nodded in confirmation. "So, she's cute and you've said more than 5 words to her?"

"I walked her to the gym this morning," Riley supplied, feeling a little proud of himself. Very few people knew about everything that happened with Sarah and how Riley had crawled right back into his shell afterwards. Abby was one of those people who understood how hard it was for Riley to speak to women. Despite feeling like an idiot in front of Kari, having some sort of conversation with her was a huge step for him.

"What's her name?" Abby prodded. Her breakfast and coffee were forgotten as she grinned over at Riley.

"Kari." Riley felt his cheeks warm at the thought of her. He felt like a teenager with a silly crush. "She was a fighter pilot. Jared told me something bad happened and she lost control of her powers, so now she's with SHIELD."

"Poor kid," Abby said sympathetically, taking a sip of her coffee. "That's never a pretty situation."

Riley nodded in agreement. Abby would know, she and Troy had been together for a long time. She'd been with him throughout Evans' entire SHIELD career. There were plenty of stories about situations like Kari's that hadn't ended well for anyone involved.

"So, are you going to be brave and ask her out for a coffee?" Abby prodded gently. "Or a beer? She sounds like she'd be a beer type of girl."

"I wouldn't know." Riley felt his fragile confidence start to crack at the mere thought of it. Even if she didn't reject him, there was a myriad of problems that came with it. "What if she didn't like coffee? Her brother walks around in Armani suits, so maybe she has super expensive taste and taking her to JoJo's for a beer would offend her. I don't even know if she's single or not."

"Stop right there," Abby cut in while Riley took a breath. She was trying hard not to laugh at him. "How about baby steps first. Keep talking to her, see what you can find out. You don't need to jump into anything right away."

Riley took a deep breath and stopped the train of thought that was currently trying to derail his good mood.

"Her whole world was just turned upside down," Abby continued more gently. "Be her friend first. She'll probably appreciate that more than anything else right now."

"Good plan," Riley sighed quietly. He knew Abby was right. She always gave the best relationship advice. Riley hated himself for not listening to Abby when all the drama was Sarah was going on. Things might not have gotten as messy as they had if he'd listened to Abby.

As Riley scooped up his first forkful of scrambled eggs, Alexi started to stir with a whimper. Before Riley could say anything, a familiar bad smell wafted up to his nose. Riley wrinkled his nose and shifted his god daughter a little. He could feel the mess in her diaper against his arm. It was going to be one disgusting diaper change.

"Whoever is holding her, changes her," Abby said instantly, with a small smirk as she started to eat.

"I hate that rule," Riley grumbled in good nature as he got up. Truthfully, he didn't mind that much. Any chance to be with Alexi was worth whatever she threw at him. Or on him. "Eat your breakfast and then go get some sleep. I've got this under control for a few hours."

Riley ignored Abby's protests and made his way up to the nursery. Alexi had made such a mess in her diaper, Riley seriously considered taking her outside and hosing her down. She was happy and babbling away to Riley throughout the entire diaper change. By the time she was clean and they went back downstairs, Riley found Abby fast asleep in her recliner.

"I guess it's just you and me Munchkin," Riley said, shifting Alexi around so he could see he a little better. Alexi grinned up at him, reaching up to tug on Riley's messy hair. He managed to avoid her grabbing fingers as he settled down on the couch, turning the TV on and down low. There were definitely worse ways to spend his day. Riley kissed the top of Alexi's head, feeling happier than he had in months. Maybe getting shot wasn't such a bad thing after all. Both Abby and Alexi slept on and off during the day. Riley even got Alexi to bed at a reasonable hour and was able to get a hair cut on his way home.

The next morning Riley was 15 minutes early for PT. There was only a few people scattered around the field. Riley was surprised to find Kari lying on the ground near the chin up bars with her arm thrown over her eyes. He couldn't help himself but to take a few seconds to appreciate the woman lying on the ground. Her shirt had ridden up a little, exposing a flat and toned stomach. The skin tight compression pants hugged her legs, showing off the lithe muscular definition. Riley couldn't help but enjoy the view. He was an ass and leg man, he wasn't ashamed to admit that.

"Should I kick you if you start snoring?" Riley surprised himself with how easily the gentle tease came out.

"Only if it's loud or we have to move," Kari chuckled, taking her arm off her face, looking at up Riley. She looked tired, but positively giddy about whatever she'd been doing. "I'm dying. I had a night flight and I haven't been to bed yet. I was too excited to sleep."

Riley knew that feeling well. He'd done the same thing himself numerous times before missions, or during training. He dropped down to the ground next to Kari, hoping to get more about her flight. It was obviously something she loved doing, so Riley wanted to hear everything about it. She pulled herself up into a sitting position, close enough that their knees were nearly touching.

"How did it go?" Riley asked, looking over to Kari. Despite looking tired, she looked as gorgeous as ever.

"I only made one person throw up which was disappointing," Kari said with a cheeky laugh, the grin on her face growing at the memory. "Rumlow's team came with us and did a night parachute drop. I decided it'd be fun, so I jumped first."

It took Riley a few moments to process that he had indeed heard correctly on what she just said. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten so damn lucky to be sitting next to a woman like her and actually having a conversation.

"Has anyone told you that you're really cool?" Riley managed to get out, feeling a goofy lopsided grin spreading on his face. She was like a dream come true. "Like seriously cool. Next thing you'll be telling me is you know how to shoot and you drink beer."

It wasn't the smoothest thing he'd ever said to a woman. But Riley knew he wasn't dealing with the women he generally dated. Without even trying, he realised he'd just asked in a roundabout way one of the questions he needed to know.

"And pizza," Kari added with a brilliant smile. "You have to have pizza with beer. Heineken or Coronoa. Yeah I have to admit I'm not a flower and chocolate girl. It's more come over naked with beer and pizza type girl. I know how to shoot well enough not to embarrass myself."

Riley had to squash down the sudden mental image of Kari naked very quickly. His shorts were far too tight to be getting an inappropriate boner. He nearly didn't catch onto her saying she could shoot well enough not to embarrass herself. Riley had seen how well her twin could shoot, he didn't doubt it in the slightest that Kari could be a good shot too. The morning was working in his favour so well. He couldn't believe his luck. He finally found his balls and decided to prod for an answer to another question playing on his mind.

"Your boyfriend is a lucky man," Riley said with a small laugh, hoping it didn't come out like he was being a jerk. To cover any backlash that might come from that statement, he quickly added. "Have you been able to hit the range yet?"

It was a stupid question in Riley's mind. She'd only been in SHIELD a few days. Thankfully Kari didn't seem to mind either question.

"I don't have a boyfriend," Kari's reply was instant. "Chronically single here. Most guys found what I did for a job really intimidating. And no, hopefully they'll give me some range time soon."

Riley sent a mental thank you out to the universe for putting this perfect women next to him and having her single as well. He wanted to say all the men who were intimated by her job were losers and didn't deserve such an amazing woman. But he felt like that might be overstepping the boundaries a little too early right now. Abby was right that she needed a friend right now. Not him looking like he wanted to get into her pants.

"Chronically single," Riley couldn't help but laugh a little. It was a good term. "I like that, suits me as well. At least you'll fit in here at Operations. I think we have the highest rate of single people in any workplace in the world."

Riley had no idea what Kari would end up doing in SHIELD. Being a Quinjet pilot seemed like it was going to be a waste of her flying skills.

"So, I heard you were Navy before you joined SHIELD," Kari said, sounding a little nervous about the abrupt change in conversation. "What did you do?"

"Fucking Rumlow and his big mouth," Riley muttered quietly, hoping Kari wouldn't hear him. It was typical of Brock to meddle in his love life. For once, he may have been a little bit glad for it. He cleared his throat, trying to find a way to put this into words without sounding like he was bragging. "I was a SEAL. Spent 6 years in the Navy and then SHIELD decided I was good enough to show up on their radar. Made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and well here I am."

By the impressed look on Kari's face, Riley felt like he'd done a good enough job at being humble. The mission that Riley had done which caught SHIELD's eye had been nightmare inducing. He hated the fuss everyone had made over him after it. The Silver Star he'd earned out of that mission was locked away in a drawer at his Mom's place so he'd never have to see it.

"How so?" Kari asked curiously.

"I'm a good shot," Riley said with a small shrug and decided to steer this conversation away from him. "Besides, the money in SHIELD is heaps better."

"After seeing all the nice cars Rumlow's team was driving this morning, I don't doubt that in the slightest," Kari said, still smiling. Riley's mind instantly drifted to his own nice BMW sports car. It was kind of the norm to have a flashy vehicle if you were in STRIKE. "I can't wait to get my own pay, my car didn't come with me and there is no way I'm begging Jared to keep driving his."

"Like Jared drives anywhere," Riley couldn't help but snort in amusement. "I didn't even know he had a license until I saw him pull up in the garage the other day. What kind of a car are you thinking of getting?" Riley was surprised at how easily the conversation was flowing between them. Kari seemed relaxed and completely at ease next to him.

"Kawasaki Ninja motorbike." Kari's entire face lit up at the mention of her transport choice. "Brand new, I've been eyeing it off for months but I never went through with actually buying it. I had a motorbike before I joined the Air Force and then decided a car was a bit more practical, much to my Mom's relief. Now I don't care about practical and just want a fast bike"

"And in red so it goes faster?" Riley joked, but couldn't help the laughter bubbling out of him. Kari looked so happy and excited to be buying a crazy sports bike. Riley was trying really hard to get the mental picture of her in skin tight leather motorbike pants out of his head as well.

"Blue, my favourite colour," Kari corrected him, but was still grinning. "Red is Jared's thing. It's bad enough we're twins sometimes, we don't have to act exactly the same."

And the world thanks you for that," Riley laughed again. It seemed sibling rivalry was well and truly alive in the Lyngley family. Kari seemed like she didn't take her twin's shit at all and wouldn't be offended by much said about him. "Your brother is crazy. He's always in trouble for the stunts he pulls. He's nearly as bad as Hawkeye and Romanoff. Probably why they all get on so well."

Kari didn't get a chance to reply. Rumlow's voice rang out across the field, calling everyone to get up and moving. Riley sprung to his feet and before he could overthink himself, he offered his hand to Kari to help pull her up. To his surprise, she gratefully took it and let Riley pull her to her feet. Riley couldn't help but let his fingers linger against her hand a little bit longer than necessary as Kari got up. Riley hung back and jogged besides Kari, not wanting the conversation to stop. She seemed to be stiff and sore, taking a few moments to get into the swing of things. But Riley was happy to wait.

"So, what do you have planned for the rest of the day?" Riley asked as soon as they both found a rhythm to jogging. Maybe if she wasn't busy, he could ask her out for a beer.

"Sleep," Kari said, with a wry grin over towards him. Riley's plan of asking her out for a beer quickly faded, but he wasn't too disappointed. She did look really tired. "After my hand to hand class which is going to suck. Rollins doesn't like me at all."

Riley didn't like Jack Rollins either. He was a nasty shit when he wanted to be. It wasn't often Riley would speak badly of someone. But Rollins was one person who could really grate on his nerves.

"Rollins doesn't like anyone," Riley pointed out. A memory suddenly flashed into his head about why Rollins would have such a problem with Kari too. He nearly groaned in disgust but managed to hold it in. "Jared kind of slept with his girlfriend last year."

Riley had to give it to Kari. She didn't look at all surprised by his comment. So he kept going with the story.

"When Rollins found out, well it was a bit messy. Lets just say Jared was fucking lucky he had Barton and Romanoff with him and he can teleport to get his ass out of trouble."

Riley had been at the bar that night as well. As tough as Jared was, Rollins was also a mean son of a bitch and was very crafty. Some of the Echo team boys had joined in the fight as well. There had been a good amount of blood shed from both parties before the police arrived to break it up.

"Why am I not surprised?" Kari groaned with a look of defeat on her face. "Great, not only am I dealing with a fucking annoyed instructor. My slut of a brother just happened to steal his girlfriend too. I'm going to die."

"I find it hard to believe you can't hold your own," Riley cringed at his choice of words. It had meant to come out as a compliment, but ended up being very backhanded.

"That's the problem, I've never had to," Kari said, looking very frustrated with herself. "I mean, I'm skinny and I have no power behind me. And according to Rollins I can't even get a basic fighting stance down right let alone swing a good punch."

Riley knew her frustration too well. He wasn't a big, muscular guy and it'd taken him a long time to adapt at being good at hand to hand. He was about to open his mouth to give Kari some pointers before he was suddenly shoved out of the way. It took all of Riley's coordination not to fall flat on his ass at the sudden movement. Riley looked up with a scowl to see Jared in the middle of the track, causing a pile up of joggers around him. He'd grabbed Kari by the arm and looked very pissed off.

"Kari, if you ever touch my car again I'll break both your legs," Jared snapped at his twin sister. "Seriously, if you need a lift. Ask. Don't just touch my stuff."

Riley was about to jump in and defend Kari from her obnoxious brother. But Kari beat him to it. With a hard shove, she sent Jared reeling backwards. Riley saw her stick her foot out at the last second, causing Jared to trip over it and end up sprawled on his ass in the middle of the track. The silence from everyone was near deafening. Everyone that was on the field stopped to gape at the sight of Jared Lyngley on his ass.

"Just remember I know what you're afraid of, be nice," Kari said in perfect Russian, scowling down at her twin. Riley had to cover his face to his the grin on his face. It wasn't often someone like Jared got put in his place when he was being an asshole.

"You're so on," Jared's rapid Russian was nearly too quick for Riley to understand. The evil smirk on his face could only mean trouble though. "Check your bed tonight. Bring my car back in one piece, or else."

In an instant Jared was gone. Riley blinked at the space where he'd been, shaking his head a little. No matter how many time he saw it, he'd never get used to things like that. But he couldn't help but give Kari a triumphant smirk. The look of annoyance fell off Kari's face and she looked very pleased with herself. Riley waited for her to start jogging again before falling into step next to her.

"My Russian teacher would have been very proud of your accent," Riley switched to his own inferior Russian. Though he could speak it nearly fluently, he could never perfect the accent and always sounded like a tourist. Kari and Jared both spoke it like native speakers. "Probably not the best language to speak around here. It's the most spoken foreign language in SHIELD."

Kari's look of surprise before she burst out laughing made Riley grin like a fool. She had a pretty laugh and Riley suddenly found himself wanting to be the one who made her laugh. He couldn't help but to laugh with her.

"Right," Kari said around her laughter and back in English. "Remind me next time to choose another language to yell at him in. Something nice and obscure like Icelandic."

"Or Latin," Riley got his own laughter under control. He knew Romanoff was found of spewing off shit in Latin to piss people off. "Nobody speaks Latin. Then again, why Icelandic? Obscure doesn't quite cover that."

Their run was nearly over. Riley felt a stab of disappointment that their morning conversation was about to be cut off again. Kari's smile and laughter throughout their conversation had made him feel more alive than he had been in months.

"Because its long, complicated and sounds awesome when you swear in it," Kari explained with a bright smile. "I can teach you a few phrases if you'd like."

There is was. Riley's perfect opening to asking her out for a beer or coffee. But his mouth wouldn't form the words to ask. Riley mentally smacked himself, but kept smiling on the outside. Maybe it was a sign to not ask right now. If every morning was going to be like this for PT, he wasn't going to complain.

"I don't know if my brain can handle another language," Riley admitted with a small laugh. Despite his disappointment in himself for not asking, what he said wasn't a lie. "My brain is bad enough for mixing English and Russian together on a bad day."

Before Kari could reply, their run was over. Riley looked around in disappointment. But Kari went straight for the chin up bar and he couldn't help but to follow. He noticed Rumlow watching him out of the corner of his eye with a very pleased smirk on his face.

"Want a lift?" Riley found himself asking, hoping the answer would be the same as the last 2 days.

"Yes please," Kari's reply was a little too quick to be normal. Riley forced himself not to grin like an idiot as he gripped her hips and effortlessly lifted her up. As his hands left her hips, Riley had a realisation hit him as hard as a freight train.

He'd just fallen head over heels for possibly the most unobtainable girl he could ever meet. But judging by the way Kari was watching him out of the corner of her eye, with the dusting of pink hue across her cheeks, Riley had hope it was definitely being returned.

His arm didn't hurt at all as he jumped up onto the chin up bar. He could be patient and take Abby's advice. Abby hadn't been wrong before, so Riley would be patient and hope for the best. Maybe the universe was finally paying him back after all the bad shit that had happened in his life over the last few years.

 **Edited to add, I accidentally deleted this chapter when I was updating a few typos I'd missed. Sorry everyone for thinking it was a new one!**

 **Authors Note**

 **So, its been a year since Riley died and I was feeling nostalgic. I hope everyone enjoyed this longer than I expected insight into Riley.**

 **I promise the next update to Crystallize is coming within the next few days. I've been unwell again and I only have enough energy to do Uni work or write, so sorry guys, Uni is a little bit more important right now. I have my specialist appointments coming up soon, so hopefully get to the bottom of my problems and give me some energy back!**

 **As always, please review. Your reviews mean the world to me and I love every single one of them. See you all in a few days when the next update for Crystallize comes out!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors Note.**

 **This is a completely AU one shot I wrote for svetlanabril on Tumblr a few weeks ago. I've been tossing up whether to post it or not here ever since since it only really ties in to Crystallize in my imagination and thinking about the 'what if'. But here it is. This adorable little piece that was prompted by a gorgeous photo. I've been a bit more active on Tumblr lately, posting a few things about Crystallize if anyone wants to pop over there and have a look under my author name.**

* * *

Riley stood with his chin resting on his hand as he stared out in the scene in front of him. The hot summer's day had turned into a stormy afternoon. The clouds hadn't long dissipated leaving the air sticky and humid. Sweat dripped down the back of Riley's shirt as he lent against the fence. It was only a minor inconvenience as he watched the scene in front of him. The toddler in the chicken pen wandered around, his hand in plastic bucket as the chickens squawked around him.

"That's it buddy," Riley coaxed the young boy in front of him. "Throw it to them."

The toddler looked up at him with a toothy grin. Riley felt his heart melt at the sight of the blonde haired and green eyed little boy. Riley still pinched himself every single day, even though it had been 15 months now, that the adorable boy was actually his. All of his dreams had come true. Marrying the girl of his dreams and them finally getting the family Riley had wanted for such a long time. Life had thrown them plenty of bumps in the way. Some of those bumps still woke Riley up at night, shaking and terrified from the nightmares of what could have been. But Kari was always there with him. Then Riley was always there for her when she had the same.

"When's Mommy going to be home?"

Riley's attention went back to his son with a gentle smile. Beyond the blonde hair, there was never going to be any denying he was Riley's son. He was the spitting image of him, even at 15 months old.

"Soon Troy," Riley said patiently. "Uncle Jared will drop her off when she's done in New York."

All three of them were meant to be going to New York that morning. Troy had woken up with a stuffy nose and a slight temperature so Kari had gone by herself. It had been the first time since Troy had been born that Kari had gone away and Riley found himself missing his wife terribly. All the meetings with the various people within Stark Industries had gone well. The new technology to make their free range chicken farming the ability to expand exponentially was going to be ground breaking. Riley still couldn't quite believe it that they personally knew Tony Stark and that Stark himself had been working on the invisible barrier systems fully powered by arc reactor technology for them. It made it a power source able to be put anywhere. It meant they could fully utilise all the woodlands around the farm without costing a fortune in fencing. Not to mention the new surveillance systems, heating systems and everything else Stark could think of. They were about to become to most technological advanced farms in the entire world. It had been Kari's idea one day when they were talking about expanding. The idea had rolled on from there to it being a commercially viable option.

Troy's little face lit up at the mention of his favourite person in the world. One of the chickens got impatient and jumped up pecking at the bucket. Riley shifted, ready to swoop into the pen and save his son. He'd been on the receiving end of cranky chickens far too often as a boy. He'd spare his son the same pain.

"Shoo." Little Troy scowled at the chicken, shooing it away with his booted foot. The chicken scuttled away in haste, flapping her wings to get away from him. It made Riley smile even wider. His son was a brave one. He may have looked like Riley but his temperament was all Kari. If you told Troy he couldn't do something it was guaranteed they'd find him doing exactly that not too long afterwards. It was endearing and horrifying all at once. At least he hadn't picked up swearing just yet.

Riley felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out, squinting at the screen brightly reflected the afternoon sun back in his face. It was a text message from Evans.

What are you doing to your poor wife? She looks exhausted. I just ran into her as she went into the last meeting with the marketing people. You better put Barton's cooking lessons to good use and have something on the table ready to go in an hour and a half when she's done.

A pang of guilt hit Riley. While Evans namesake had been unwell this morning, Kari hadn't looked the greatest either. She'd been off colour but brushed it off as nothing more than a bug. Little Troy had been going to playgroup and bringing home all manners of bugs and rashes, as small children tended to do. Kari was sure she'd picked up whatever was bothering their son. Riley had tried to get her to reschedule all the meetings. Kari had been adamant about attending them.

Little Troy was sick this morning and Kari thinks she might have picked up the bug as well. He's fine this afternoon so I hope she only needs to sleep it off. Thanks for the heads up though. Are you guys still coming over for the weekend?

Since SHIELD fell and a lot of people found themselves jobless, Evans had found himself being offered a position as head of security for the Avengers Tower. The job offer had been far too good for him to turn down. Riley was sure some of it had been Kari's doing but she shrugged it off with a knowing smile whenever it was brought up. The Avengers were moving to a new facility in upstate New York in the next few months. Evans and the rest of his family were going to come out for the weekend for a visit before it got too busy. The thumbs up back from Evans was all the confirmation Riley needed.

"You finished buddy?" Riley tucked his phone back into his pocket, turning his attention back to his son. Troy had finished throwing the corn out to the chickens and was now patting one of the more tolerant ones. Troy nodded, grabbing his empty bucket and came running over the fence. Riley opened the gate for him, scooping up the toddler as soon as he was in arm reach. Troy shrieked in delight, laughing as Riley spun them both around.

"Come on, let's go put some dinner on before Mom gets home." Riley couldn't help but give his son a hug before he put him back down. "What should we have for dinner?"

"Nuggets!" Troy suggested brightly, clapping at his brilliant idea.

"Why am I not surprised?" Riley laughed. Troy would eat chicken nuggets for breakfast, lunch and dinner if he was allowed to. "How about spaghetti bolognese?"

It was Kari's favourite meal. Barton had taught Riley to cook it years ago when he'd started giving Riley cooking lessons. It was fail safe and Kari always begged him to cook it at least once a week. After a long day, it would be guaranteed to put a smile on her face.

Troy pulled a face, showing his disgust at eating something besides chicken nuggets. He ran ahead a few steps and jumped feet first into a puddle, sending mud and water splashing up at them both. The sound of childish laughter rang around the quiet farm as Troy's overalls got soaked with mud and water. Riley mentally added getting his son clean to the list of things that was currently piling up before Kari got home. Still, the smile couldn't be wiped off his face as his son ran ahead of him making a mess of himself, the laughter never stopping all the way to their house. Riley had never been so content in his life as he was now. Some people might tease him about being a house husband but he couldn't be happier. Life was perfect.

Dinner was on the stove and Troy was cleaned up from his romp in the mud when Riley heard a noise downstairs. The muffled sound of his name came up to him a few seconds later.

"Mommy!" Troy shrieked. He jumped off the bed before Riley could stop him, dressed in only a nappy. With only the freakish speed a toddler could posses, Troy was out the door and down the stairs before Riley could even made it out of the bedroom. Kari kept joking that their son didn't need powers at the speed he ran at. Riley always pointed out that knowing their luck that would be exactly the power he possessed and they'd never keep up with him.

Riley followed at a more sedate pace down the stairs. When he got to the living room Troy was in Jared's arms, talking at a million miles an hour. Kari was standing to the side looking every inch the power woman she was. The sharp grey skirt business suit with the light blue shirt had been Pepper's doing. When Kari had shown it to him this morning, Riley fought the urge to drag her back to bed and peel it off her. Her first pregnancy had softened the hard lines of her body slightly, giving her a hint of curves. The suit was extremely flattering and hugged her in all the right places. Kari's tired expression melted into one of pure adoration as Riley crossed the room. Riley pulled her into a tight hug, enjoying the moment of peace while it lasted.

"Hi," Kari breathed into his ear. "God I missed you today."

Riley hugged her even tighter at those words. Her cherry blossom perfume mixed with the vanilla shampoo she loved reached his nose. Riley couldn't help but to breath in deeply, soaking in the scent that was all her.

While they were in STRIKE, there had been times when they'd barely seen each other for a month. It came with the job and every moment together then was precious. He always missed her terribly when they were apart but neither of them ever voiced how hard the separation actually was. They simply took every moment they had together like it could be their last. There had been plenty of close calls. Riley's near miss after their mission in Syria, an inch to the left of the gunshot wound he'd gotten and he would have bleed out within minutes. Kari coming back half dead after Pripyat. Something Riley had never quite forgiven Jared for. That horrible moment when Kari and Natasha's car was shot off the road near Odessa. The fall of the Triskelion where both of them had barely made it out alive. Plus countless other missions that Riley didn't want to think of. Every single shitty moment was made better with her in his arms right now.

"I missed you too." Riley pulled back enough so he could press a kiss on his wife's lips. He could feel her smiling against him as they kissed. "Good day?"

"Mmm." Kari's noise of non committal was muffled as she buried her head into Riley's shoulder.

Riley didn't take offence to her not wanting to talk about the day. While Kari was proving to be very business savvy, she hated the rigmarole of everything. She didn't look much better than she had this morning either. He simply pressed a kiss to the side of her head that was visible and tightened his arms around her again. They only got another few seconds of peace before Troy's fascination with Uncle Jared waned and he flung him at Kari.

"Hey my little man." Kari untangled herself from Riley and picked up their son. "Did you keep Dad in line all day?"

Riley felt his heart swell from happiness seeing his wife hug their son. It had been a long road before they had any luck falling pregnant. After three failed IVF attempts and a miscarriage, they'd both decided to stop trying because the heartbreak was getting too much. They'd both joked about actively not trying but not avoiding it either. It wasn't until nearly a year later with no luck Kari had to take a routine pregnancy test after she fell off the quad bike and needed an x-ray of her hand. The x-ray had suddenly turned into an ultrasound and they found out she was 13 weeks pregnant. There'd been nothing to hint at her being pregnant. She had sailed through the pregnancy with no problems and barely looked pregnant until she was 32 weeks along. Then she resembled a beach ball with limbs. Troy had been impatient and decided he was ready four weeks later in a big rush. Riley had barely gotten them into the birthing suite before Troy was born, a mere two hours after Kari felt the first signs of labour. It had been a wild ride and Riley hadn't missed a second of it all.

"Thanks for dropping her back." Riley turned to Jared while Troy told Kari all about their day. "I appreciate it. Are you staying for dinner?"

It had taken a long time after Pripyat for Jared and Riley to be on speaking terms. It wasn't until after SHIELD fell that they even got close to being where they were originally. Riley had hated how much it hurt Kari in those few years it had taken to patch things up between them.

"Nah, I've got date night with the ball and chain," Jared said with an easy smirk. "I got tickets to Swan Lake and I would be a dead man if I missed it."

"You'll be a dead man if she ever hears you call her that," Kari said, scowling over at her twin. Her gaze flicked to Riley and she switch to Icelandic, talking rapidly to Jared.

Even after the years they'd known each other, Riley had only picked up some very basics in the complicated language Kari and Jared spoke. She was talking to fast for him to understand anything now but there was a clear warning in her tone. Whatever she was saying made Jared roll his eyes and hold his hands up in defeat with a placid reply.

"Say goodbye to Uncle Jared," Kari switched back to English, hitching Troy up on her hip a little higher.

"Bye Jared," Troy obediently parroted, waving a chubby fist at him.

"Bye." Riley barely had time to get the word out before Jared was gone. He looked over to Kari, wondering if he should push the issue about whatever her and Jared were speaking out. The exhausted look on her face made Riley quickly switch tactics. "I cooked spaghetti bolognese for dinner."

"Have I told you how much I love you today?" Kari reached over and gave Riley a quick kiss. "Shall I dress this monster?"

"Go sit down," Riley said gently, reaching out his arms to take their son off his wife. "Have a drink and I'll finish dressing our little mud monster."

When Riley came back downstairs with a dressed Troy, there was a bourbon poured for him sitting on the table as well as a cup of juice. Kari was sitting down sipping on her drink, flicking through her phone. She hastily put it up before Riley could make a smart ass comment about no working at the dinner table. Riley put Troy in his chair and started to finish dinner off as Kari filled him in on the day. The conversation drifted lazily around what Riley and Troy had done all day to the success of the meetings. Riley was impressed to hear Kari only threw one thing at Stark the entire day. While they'd grown to be close friends over the years, Tony liked to push Kari's buttons to get a reaction out of her. Unluckily for Tony, it usually involved him getting some kind of injury.

After dinner, despite Kari's protests, Riley made her move to the couch and promise to stay put while he put Troy to bed. Even though he slept a lot more than usual during the day, Troy had a quick bath and went to bed with no protest. It was a flip of the coin whether he'd stay up for hours or go straight to bed these days. His little personality was exploding and he was getting a mind of his own. Something Riley both cherished and dreaded.

Going back downstairs, Riley quickly cleaned up the kitchen. The TV was playing in the background too low for him to hear. It was enough noise to cover up the sound of him cleaning up. When he was finished, he walked into the living room and found Kari laying across the couch with her eyes closed. The show on TV she'd turned on was forgotten.

"Hey." Riley reached over and gently shook her awake.

"Not sleeping, just resting my eyes," came the sleepy reply from her. Kari blearily opened her eyes, smothering back a yawn as she looked up at Riley. "Game of Thrones is on. No one can sleep through that."

Riley chucked as he took the remote from Kari's limp grip and switched the TV off. He wasn't a fan of Kari's favourite TV show and would only tolerate watching an episode once. He had no idea why Kari would always watch the repeats of the same episode she'd only seen a few days ago.

"Come on, bed time for you too," Riley said, bending down next to her. He easily lifted her up off the couch into his arms. He snagged up her phone as he straightened up, knowing she'd want it if she woke up properly

Kari said nothing and snuggled into the crook of Riley's neck as he carried her up the stairs. She didn't stir until Riley put her down on the bed.

"Shit, where's my phone?" Kari sat up looking a little more awake.

"Right here." Riley took it out of his pocket and handed it to her. "No work in bed. You've done enough today."

"No, it's not work," Kari said around a yawn. "I've got something to show you."

Riley didn't miss the look of nerves cross across her face as she unlocked her phone. Riley sat down on the edge of the bed next to her as her fingers hovered above the screen. Kari bit her lip before her fingers slowly moved across the screen as she pulled up whatever she was going to show Riley. The hesitation wasn't his imagination as Kari's fingers finally stopped. She was holding her phone angled away from Riley so he couldn't see the screen.

"What's up?" Riley felt his own tug of nerves at her obvious hesitation.

"Remember when we teased Evans about Abby falling pregnant with William?" Kari said slowly, looking up at Riley from underneath her eyelashes.

"Yes, vividly." Riley held back a chuckle. It had been a total shock to everyone that Evans and Abby had fallen pregnant again. Evans admitted to Riley that they had so many problems conceiving Alexi they hadn't bothered with contraception afterwards. They'd had no luck falling pregnant naturally so it had never crossed their mind it might actually happen.

"The karma fairy finally pissed in our cereal for that one," Kari said dryly, turning the phone screen around and handing it to Riley.

On her phone screen was the photo of an ultrasound. In the black and white image, a small blob looking thing was floating around. Riley felt his eyes go wide as he looked back to Kari.

"Is that?" Riley didn't have the breath to finish the sentence.

"Our little 9 week old blob," Kari said, her voice shaking. "I didn't believe the doctor when he told me those antibiotics could mess with my pill. I guess I'll pay more heed to his warnings next time."

Riley's mind stretched back to what had happened back then. Kari had stood on a rusty nail 10 weeks ago and needed a course of antibiotics when it became infected. The doctor's warning about the antibiotics messing with Kari's contraceptive pill had made both of them scoff at the time. Over the last few weeks Riley had been tossing up when to bring up the conversation of a second child. Life kept getting in the way and it hadn't happened. This had just settled that perfectly for him.

"Say something?" Kari said quietly, breaking into Riley's thoughts.

He realised he'd been staring at the ultrasound for far too long. His silence could have been mistake for something else entirely.

"I'm…" Riley trailed off as he felt his voice hitch. It was their little secret between him and Kari that he'd cried tears of joy when they found out she was pregnant with Troy. Right now, he could feel the same tears threatening to choke him. He was so happy he could barely make a word. He forced it through before the moisture in his eyes got too much and his throat closed up completely. "I really want a girl this time."

Riley reached over and pulled Kari into a crushing hug. She relaxed under his strong grip, hugging him back just as hard.

"Me too."

Just when Riley didn't think life could be any more perfect, it had gotten better.


End file.
